


Damn Elevator

by JKirin



Series: Damn Elevator [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Sexual Situations, Elevators, Falling In Love, Humor, Idiots in Love, Kiba and Gaara fight over Neji, Love at First Sight, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mild Sexual Content, Naruto in denial, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Romance, Sexual Tension, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke Being an Asshole, Yes even in summer I write stories about winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:07:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 42,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25943323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JKirin/pseuds/JKirin
Summary: Naruto is an interior designer by day and accomplished astronomer by night. One winter morning he met a perfect stranger, who turned out to be a total bastard. It would have been easy to get him out of his head, if only they weren't meeting over and over again. And was it just him, or elevators conspired against humanity? At the same time, Naruto's colleague from work, Kiba, is struggling through an unrequited love towards one of the scientists. But he will win Neji's attention no matter what, love rivals and evil elevators be damned!Modern AU. SasuNaru, KibaNejiDisclaimer: Some elevators were hurt in this story.
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji/Inuzuka Kiba, Mentions of KakaIru ShikaTema KarinSuigetsu HidaDei, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Damn Elevator [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1882597
Comments: 33
Kudos: 103





	1. Ground floor. Something was about to change

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written over the course of a few years. As such, with every chapter spelling mistakes decrease and writing in general gets better, I promise :)

_It was all the damn elevators' fault..._

Once upon a time in a small city of Tokyo lived a young man that disliked elevators. To be more precise, he hated them with all his being, and if something ever went wrong, he never hesitated to blame it on some poor elevator. The name of that young man was Naruto Uzumaki.

One beautiful December morning, while running through covered in white streets on his way to work, Naruto felt that something was about to change in his life. Light flurries of snow landed on his flushed cheeks as he smiled at the thought and continued his journey. He ran past local shops and wished a good morning to a bakery owner that came out to hang the open sign. Indeed, the morning and the day ahead looked promising, but just as Naruto was about to reach the bus stop, he was met with an all too familiar scene. If there was anything about to change in his life, it of course was not it.

"Dammit" – the young man swore at the leaving bus. He was just a few seconds late, but no! Public transport never waited.. _Dammit_. This meant that Naruto was going to be late for work again - another thing that would forever remain unchanged. Of course, it was all because of the elevators in his house! He never liked those metal boxes that were supposed to help people, prevent them from being late, but the ones at his house were just pissing him off every day!

The case was much worse than anyone could imagine. Naruto lived in a high-rise condo building, but on the second floor. One would assume that he didn't need an elevator to reach it or come down from it. He could always use stairs, right? Wrong! The security policy of the building he lived in did not allow tenants use stairs in any cases except emergency - a tiny detail that was not mentioned when he signed the lease.

" _The hell?_ " was Naruto's exclamation when he first noticed the big red letters on the door to a staircase (that was coincidentally right next to his apartment door). Thus, he was forced to use elevators to come down from the second floor to the ground floor, which took forever and caused him to miss his bus everyday. Every. Damn. Day.

For the next eighteen minutes, the young man was trying not to freeze in the cold by walking around the bus stop and chanting _damn elevator_. When the bus finally came, Naruto jumped in and found a seat at the very back where it was the warmest. As buildings and streets flew by outside the window, he thought about his life and wondered what could possibly be changed in it. He already knew that not being late for work, though would have been nice, was not it.

Naruto's day-to-day life was pretty uneventful for a 23 years old and filled mostly with several jobs he had to do to afford the apartment he lived in. It was small but comfy and almost perfect for him alone. The only imperfection was inability to use stairs, but it was mentioned already... Uzumaki lived alone but loneliness rarely bothered him. This feeling used to be the only thing he knew being an orphan without any known relatives, but not anymore. Now, he had friends, though not many, and a wonderful person who he could lovingly call "dad" – Umino Iruka.

They met when Naruto was only 6, as an elementary school teacher and a lonely kid-student starving for attention and family. Being a person with a huge warm heart, Iruka welcomed the little boy to his home and offered him love and tenderness the kid knew nothing about. Forever grateful, Naruto didn't want to be a burden to his wonderful adoptive father and after the later opened a café, he started helping there. Later he took some more odd jobs here and there and by his 14th birthday, he had enough saved up to move out. He still remembered how with bags packed, he proudly declared to his father that he was fully independent. Of course, Iruka didn't let the teenager leave and after a few slaps to the back of the blond head, decision was made to put the money aside for his education.

Since that time he was doing everything to make Iruka proud: despite continuing working part-time, Naruto finished school with honours, graduated from UofT, and was working on a science research for his PhD in Astronomy. In addition to all of the above, he finished one year post-graduate course in interior design and also had a job at a prominent architectural and interior design firm. For which he was very late...

"Oh, shit!" – Naruto suddenly realized that the bus-driver was prepared to leave his stop. Lost in thoughts, he completely forgot where he was! The young man almost slipped on slushy snow running out of the bus – winter in downtown was not a pretty thing. After a couple of minutes of fast-walking through crowded streets, Naruto finally arrived to the building he worked in. Great, it was only ten past nine and with a bit of luck, his boss wouldn't notice he was late.

There was only one last thing to do before work – just go up to the 15th floor using an elevator. No big deal, but there it was again:

_Elevator._

_E for 'evil', L for 'late, E for 'evil' again..._

Anyways, it was once again too slow for Naruto's liking. Of course luck was not on his side as all six of them were now somewhere between the thirtieth to fortieth floors... Still going up, not planning to go down. He was waiting, and waiting... And waiting... sighing every two seconds in impatience. _'Urgh..Damn elevators...'_

To distract himself from the objects he hated so much, Uzumaki looked around searching for something interesting. The lobby didn't have too many people, just some passers by. It seemed he was the only one late for work. _'Just great'_ He sighed again in impatience, but then saw a young man standing not too far away from him, talking on a cell-phone and waiting for an elevator as well. Now, that was way more interesting than elevators..

Naruto felt his stomach drop at the sight that was like a slow motion scene from a movie taking breath away. The man looked well-build and simply gorgeous, or maybe it was a long black and definitely rich coat that made him look like a sex-god incarnate? His hair was dark, even darker than coat, two long bangs framing the face. The colour was not just dark brown or something, but pure black with some blue highlights in it (from the ambient light of course, but it looked just like a raven's wings!) However, a more stylish haircut would be better, Naruto thought smiling at how spiky it got at the back.

Looking closely at the man, Naruto noticed that his features were perfectly sharp and at the same time smooth – elegant jaw-line, chin, and accurate lips on pearl-white skin. His face and body provoked desire to caress it and be caressed by it. _'Wow'_ Naruto swallowed to help his suddenly dry mouth, not understanding where these thoughts were coming from but feeling the attraction to the man before him that was just too perfect to be true. The only thing left to be known was colour of the stranger's eyes which were now closed shut in annoyance at whatever conversation he was having on the phone.

 _'Please be black'_ Naruto thought.

He was pretty sure that the eyes weren't blue or green, because the man was truly Japanese. However it would be very disappointing if they were brown. Simply because brown was too ordinary for a person with such extraordinary features. The man was a piece of perfection, and as a designer, Naruto thought about black eyes. Pure black eyes with neither long nor short eyelashes. However, eyes of this colour were very rare in nature. But so was every other feature the man possessed.

Uzumaki swore to himself that if the man before him had black eyes, he would do anything to know him better! Maybe even become a friend..

Lost in thoughts, Naruto didn't realize that he was actually shamelessly staring, until:

"Can you please stop looking at me? It's disturbing."

 _… OH. MY. GOD. …_ was the last rational thought in Naruto's mind before he lost himself completely in the eyes that were looking right back at him.

They weren't brown, blue, or green, or any other colour Naruto knew. They weren't even black as he was hoping for just moments ago. They were staring back at him like the bottomless midnight sky on a moonless night. So deep, dark and mysterious, he could swear he saw stars in there!

"Seriously, do you mind?" the man stopped talking on the phone and was looking back at Naruto with a soon to be very angry expression.

If someone were to pass by the elevator bank right at that moment, they would have found the scene rather suspicious: a young dark-haired man was simply waiting for an elevator so he could go up to his office and start a new day at work; and another young man was shamelessly eating him up with glittering eyes and a slightly open mouth...what was he thinking? Luckily (for Naruto), there was no one nearby.

"Sorry, I was lost in thoughts.." the blond mumbled in response, slowly returning to his senses. He felt his temperature raise from embarrassment but also excitement. It wasn't the best of beginnings, but Naruto was certain the two of them can become very good friends!

"Idiot."

—or maybe not… Naruto suddenly felt the urge to strangle the other person and that's why—

"Bastard!"

—all hopes for a good friendship were lost.

"Moron."

—probably forever—

"Duck-butt!"

—entirely…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment if it made you smile 😊 And read on! Writing gets better, I promise))


	2. Floor 2. Best intentions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto admits that he wasn't really at his best behaviour and tries to befriend the stranger. What will this lead to?

Naruto growled and fisted both of his hands, glaring at the slightly taller man before him. Just when the stranger was ready to say something back, the sound of an arriving elevator caught their attention. The blond went right in and without a second thought pressed two buttons: one of the fifteenth floor, and then the close doors one. The other man barely had a chance to get in, but once inside, he calmly pushed the button of his floor.

A pregnant silence hung over the poor elevator…

It is necessary to mention that most of the time, Naruto was a calm and mature person. It was very rare for him to loose his temper, and only because of something he truly disliked. Like elevators – he simply hated them all and nothing could stop him from mentioning it. Towards people... Well, let's just say that he tried his very best to have a good relationship with everyone around him. For some reason, most likely because of the eyes, he wanted this particular man around him...as a friend. He also could not deny that it was certainly his fault that everything turned out the way it did. Not that he would ever admit it out loud.

The blond cleared his throat awkwardly and decided to try and start the conversation over. Facing the stranger with his usual cheerful smile, he broke the silence:

"Please excuse me for my behaviour just now. I am Naruto Uzumaki from Paradise Architectures. It is very nice to meet you"

"Hn" was it even a response?! The man didn't even spare a glance towards Naruto. Sighing, he tried again:

"We are pretty late today, aren't we?" A little small talk won't hurt, right?

"I am never late, dobe" _urgh! This man is impossible!_ Naruto felt his blood boil at the insult.

"D-don't call me that, teme!" He mentally slapped himself on the forehead. He was still trying to make friends with this guy, right? The brunet suddenly turned and took a step towards him.

"Or what? You stare a hole through me?" Naruto instantly felt his insides tighten at the close proximity to the stranger. He pointed the index finger at the other man partially to get the next point across and partially to somehow draw a line between them. However he immediately regretted the decision seeing just how much his hand trembled. Why was he so nervous?

"Listen, let's make this clear" said he, making the other one rise his elegant eyebrow. – "I wasn't staring at you!"

"oh, really?" Why was he being so difficult?

"Yes!" Uzumaki swallowed nervously but continued "I was thinking about.. about.. stars! Yes, I was thinking about stars!" well.. it wasn't a complete lie, right? So it should be fine… indeed, Naruto was thinking about stars, but the ones that were inside those beautifully black orbs that were piercing him right now with anger.

"Whatever," said the man with irritation and turned away to face the door.

The blond sighed again and lowered his head in defeat, silently waiting for his floor. And the elevator today was moving even slower than ever… When the door finally opened, Naruto walked out with a quiet sigh. He was desperately trying to forget the attraction he felt the moment he saw those eyes – bottomless beautiful mysteriously black eyes… He was pretty damn sure that he would not be able to concentrate on work today! And all of this was because of a…

* * *

"Sai, is Naruto at his desk yet? I need him in my office now, that brat!" A huge man with gorgeously long white hair was pacing around his office. It was a very busy time for the business as it seems that the whole city decided to complete renovations before Christmas. Thus, he needed all staff working around the clock to complete designs. Annoyingly, that brat was late for work almost every day! He should have fired him long time ago! If only he was not so darn talented...

"Please don't worry, Jiraya-sama" the other man in the room smiled. "It is past 9:30 already, Naruto-kun should be here shortly. It is late even for him"

"Why does he do this to me?" asked the older man, impatiently looking at the clock.

"Well, you know, he is most likely late because of some…"

"DAMN ELEVATOR!" they heard a shout from just outside the office followed by a slammed door.

"Well, guess he's here. Shall I go get him?"

"Please.."

* * *

Uzumaki stomped through the office towards his desk ignoring surprised glances from the colleagues. He threw his bag under in frustration and collapsed on a chair. For the whole morning, everything was going so horribly wrong. First, there was a very slow elevator at his building, then the bus that just could not wait two seconds, then a perfect stranger in an elevator again. Urgh! He hopelessly wanted to befriend him, but the teme was just being so devastatingly impossible! How was it possible for a a man have such perfect, beautiful features and such... imperfect and so not beautiful personality? What was he supposed to do now?

...Forget. Yes, that's right. The pearl-white skin, raven hair, black eyes, stars and bastards! Forgetting everything seemed like a fantastic idea and what could be more effective than work?

Excitingly, Naruto opened a laptop and prepared to finally start his work day. There were several very interesting renovation projects he was working on and he could not wait to finish them. He had a tendency to get completely absorbed in the design process so, by lunch time, things should go back to normal.

"O-ooh, Naruto-kuuun! You've finally joined us!" Sai, his boss's secretary, suddenly appeared next to him. "so which elevator was it today?"

"Please, not today Sai…" Naruto groaned lifting his right palm up to stop the colleague from continuing.

It was a usual morning routine between them: Uzumaki would be late, Sai would make fun of him and his obsession with elevators, they piss each other of, fight, their boss would shout at them and then they would continue the rest of the day in peace and harmony.

"Alright, just for today... You do not seem to be your usual self this morning"

"Thanks"

"Jiraya-sama wants an update on the bedroom design of that violent woman he is so infatuated with, Ms. Tsunade. They have a meeting later today"

"I swear, he should just do it himself! He keeps rejecting all of my designs for that woman" Naruto was sure that Jiraya delayed everything on purpose. However, this project has been dragging on for too long and why she was still a client, was a mystery. "He should ask her on a date or something and stop rejecting my awesome designs!"

This was great, with his coworker's help, Naruto's plan to forget the events from before was working well. Soon, there will be no more pearl-white skin, black eyes, stars and bastards to remember!

"Before you go to his office and explain this to him, there is one more project for you" Sai put a folder on the desk and the blond looked at it with interest. "the client is looking to redecorate a spacious open concept condo. Minimalistic and classy." He was always excited when a new project came in. "They want some pearl-white accents.." Naruto winced at the word, remembering the skin colour of a certain someone "...with lots of black.."

"Seriously?!" He groaned.. The image of a long black coat and raven hair were now back on his mind.

"Um, yes. But not too creepy. Oh and also, they were wondering if they can somehow incorporate stars in the design"

"Of course!" Perhaps his plan was not so well thought through.. Though, it was just one project and there were other designers "can't someone else do it?" He looked at his colleague with pleading eyes but instantly froze.

Sai noticed as an expression on his co-worker's face changed to that of a surprise. Naruto was staring at him with eyes huge like it was the first time they saw each other. – "Wha.. Why are you looking at me like that?" It was very strange and Sai maybe for the first time in his life felt so uncomfortable and unsure...

Naruto, on the other hand was looking at Sai in disbelief. His colleague had raven coloured silky-looking hair, very fair skin, finely wrought features, small mouth, but most importantly..

"Sai.. your eyes are black.." he mumbled not believing in his own words. Sai very much resembled the person he met not so long ago and had a better haircut. But what was different? What was it that caught Naruto's attention in the other person and made him want to know more?

"Well, thank you for noticing Naruto-kun, but I am well aware of this.." Sai responded but Naruto wasn't listening.. What was it that Sai didn't have? With almost the same looks, he was quite... average, not so attractive. From a designer perspective. Uzumaki couldn't understand. The only thing he knew was that Sai being here would remind him of that perfect person with the imperfect personality… and he won't be able to concentrate on work, and he didn't like it! He didn't want to think about it anymore!

"I don't like your eyes.." Naruto mumbled and taking his bag went towards the exit. Sai was left speechless, not understanding a thing!

Quietly opening the door to his boss's, Naruto said:

"I'm taking a day off, Jiraya-sensei" and not waiting for a response left the office by stairs. He did not want to have anything to deal with elevators again...

He didn't hear shouts _"BRAT, DAMN IT!"_ and threats _"I'll fire you! YOU HEAR!"_ from his boss and Sai's pleading _"please, calm down Jiraya-sama.. you have to worry about your health…"_

\- "BRAA-A-AT! DAMN I-I-IT!"


	3. Floor 3. Out of sight, out of mind?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto tries to not think about the unpleasant bastard and turns to Iruka for help. Will they succeed? And what does Naruto's boss have to say?

Many questions were going through Naruto's mind as he was walking away from the building. Many questions with no answers... Why did the perfect stranger occupy his mind? What made him different comparing to Sai? Why did they meet? Why was he thinking that the meeting was important? Was it related to the feeling he got earlier today - like something was about to change in his life? Having someone in his life like the man he met would certainly change it, but he didn't need it. There is no way he was attracted to a total stranger. He didn't need any temes occupying his mind all the time!

Not ever, but certainly not today! Today was too important.

After graduating from UofT, Naruto stayed with the institute of astronomy and was working towards his PhD. While studying orbits of celestial objects, together with his colleagues and peers from other parts of the world he was mainly concerned about Earth-crossing asteroids and especially PHAs. Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. Well, you know, those space rocks big enough and at one point in the future possibly close enough to collide with our planet and do some scary shit. How scary? Go ask dinosaurs. Oh wait, you can't...So now, you have a pretty good idea of how scary that shit may be.

However, having an idea of what might happen is one thing, knowing exactly how the atmosphere of a planet is affected is completely different. So when a colleague from the planetary science department approached him asking if there are any asteroids or comets planning to fall onto nearby planets, he jumped at the opportunity.

Today was the day when he can get the final readings of several asteroids on their coordinates, compare with his predictions, and adjust their calculated orbits. It is highly possible that in just seven years one of them collides with his most favourite planet – Venus.

So, yeah, by any means necessary, he needed to be able to concentrate on this. But! Any thoughts about night skies and stars unfailingly led to the mysteriously black eyes, not his research! The worst part was that the man from the elevator probably forgot all about him by now..

Naruto frowned in frustration, frosty air gently pinching his cheeks. He needed to clear his mind, fast. There was only one place, only one person that could help him with that – Rasengan Café, Iruka's place and his second part-time job. There he could always be himself without anything bothering him. His farther will be able to help him without a doubt!

Smiling at the ingenious idea, the blond started running towards the café, thankfully it was not far. Another thought crossed his mind, since he started working for Jiraya, he hasn't been able to meet his dad so early in the morning. Days off were awesome! As soon as he reached his destination, Naruto immediately run through the welcoming door and..

_!SHMACK!_

"urgh..dammit..." It definitely wasn't his day today… after laying on the ground for a couple of moments, Naruto realized that it was too early in the morning for the door to be welcoming. The café was still closed and the door was definitely NOT welcoming yet… _Urgh.._ The blond lifted himself up from the ground felling a bit dizzy and disoriented. When the little snowmen stopped flying around his head and his sight came to norm, he saw Iruka's shocked face in the doorway.

"Naruto, what happened?" Iruka's asked but then saw a huge red bump on his son's forehead "..never mind, come on in..."

"Your door doesn't like me today..." was all that Naruto could say in his defence.

As soon as the blond walked in, he was surrounded by the familiar atmosphere of warmth and coziness and it seemed like most of his stress was left freezing outside. It was a good start!

The place was magical. He didn't know how his father did that, but everything at the café was just like Iruka – calming and homelike, caring and welcoming (except for the door). It wasn't magical only to Naruto, others felt it too. When people came here, they unfailingly became regular customers. Oh, and the best part: it did not have any elevators!

Naruto moved towards the bar and made himself comfortable on one of the stools, while Iruka's poured fresh coffee for both of them.

"So start telling me your story" Iruka started, it was very unusual for his son to come in this early. "Why are you here, what happened?"

"Would you believe me if I said 'nothing'?" Naruto tried to smile innocently. His goal was to clear his mind and forget about what happened just over an hour ago. As soon as humanly possible, he needed to get rid of the still fresh memory of those beautiful bottomless the colour of the... _Damnit! Damn elevator that made me wait so long and stare at unnecessary things!_

"Hm, nothing you say.. " Iruka looked at his son trying to figure out what bothered him so much. Silence didn't help, so he put his cup of coffee on the bar table with more force than necessary, spilling the contents out and making Naruto jump in his seat. "Why would I believe this nonsense? Don't you mess with me Naruto Uzumaki! Since the very first moment I saw you I could tell when you lie and when you don't!"

 _Does this mean that I lied to you the very first time we met?..._ Naruto thought, blush colouring his cheeks from embarrassment.

"Or am I not your dad anymore?.." Iruka continued with a very hurtful expression on his face, tears shining in the corners of his chocolate coloured puppy eyes... "You don't trust me at all, do you? Am I not needed?... _sniff_ " yeah, Iruka knew how to play this game.

Naruto groaned and rubbed his temples suddenly remembering how around three years ago Iruka cried in front of him just like that about his unrequited love for one of the regular customers. The blond could never stand his delicate father's tears! So, the next time the regular came, it was with a bouquet of roses and a confession of eternal love for Iruka. It was one of the happiest days in his father's life. Though one thing was left behind the scenes: on a very dark night, in a deserted alley, the regular was properly educated on the importance of never ever making Iruka cry. In the process, the man's face mask was torn to pieces to ensure that he wasn't an ugly weirdo. Anyways, everything turned out fine as the love was in fact not unrequited and the couple happily remains together to this day.

"All right, all right! I met someone" the younger man gave in and immediately Iruka's face brightened up. Though Naruto was not happy at all, he looked at the porcelain cup and allowed himself to think about the stranger's unbelievably fair skin, dark liquid reminding him of black hair and eyes. It was scary just how much the meeting affected him, bringing up so many confusing feelings in him. There was attraction, curiosity, and the hope to become friends. "Dad, what did I do wrong to ruin everything that didn't even start?" _Stared at him like the last idiot!_ He added to himself.

Iruka realized at once that he probed into something that his son was not yet ready to share, so he decided to let go and help in the best way he could.

"Okay, boy. As you came here today, I'll make you work so hard you won't remember your own name by the end of the day!"

"Wha-a-a-a-aht?"

"Get started!" The older man slapped the towel in front of the younger's face to get him moving.

And that he did… for the next four hours, Naruto helped with setting up tables, waiting on tables, assisting to cook, dish washing, and whatever other tasks Iruka sent his way. It was brutal, exhausting, and fun! Naruto loved it when he had to work hard on smaller tasks that didn't leave any opportunity for thinking too much. He barely noticed how time flew by and forgot why he came there in the first place.

Naruto got to meet some regulars that he didn't see before because his usual shift doesn't start until 5pm. There were people famous and not so famous from all industries: bankers, book publishers, students, politicians. There was also a news broadcaster lady with a high ponytail that kept flirting with him, saying that blue eyed blondes need to stick together. It seems that everyone loved the place and food here. He saw Sai again and learnt that his boss Jiraya is a frequent visitor too, but was not able to make it today due to too much work... Not that it was completely Naruto's fault...but he did take care of the take-out bill.

There were some customers that Iruka's waited on himself, showing them his utmost respect as the owner of the café and Naruto could tell just how much they appreciated the gesture. So, when his father asked him to do it for a small group of people that just arrived, it surprised him.

"Please do this for me once, Naruto. I have an urgent phone call I need to make. Someone needs to rescue Kakashi... Can you imagine, he got stuck in an elevator and his cell phone is low on battery? Well, or so he says... I swear, if he is just lazy and wants me to do everything, the bastard sleeps on a couch.."

"um..dad?"

"Oh, yes. The guests just arrived and are at the table number seven. You have to be very careful around them, though. First, bring all of them a glass of water, then take an order and leave. I will be back before then. Oh, and talk to the pink-haired lady only, do not address the two gentlemen. Be calm and talk as little as possible."

"Who the hell are they?! The Queen and Prime Minister?"

"Shut it!" Iruka's added before disappearing into his office.

 _Most likely some rich bastards with sticks up their asses_ , he thought while pouring water into three tall glasses, then putting them on a salver and walking out of the kitchen.

Eyes widening as he saw the ones sitting at the table 7, he felt a string of panic grow inside his stomach. The salver he carried slipped through suddenly numb fingers and crashed onto the floor spilling the water and broken glass everywhere. Eager to flee the scene and not thinking things through, he turned around sharply, tripped over his feet and, in an attempt to regain the balance on a wet surface, hit the door to the kitchen, knocking it wide open, and finally landed face down on the floor.

Truly, today was not his day.

 _Unbelievable.._ he thought while getting up from the floor, cheeks flushed from embarrassment. He could only hope that Iruka did not see or hear what just happened. However with how lucky he was today he knew that would not be the case. Why was it happening to him? Why would the stranger from this morning be a regular at Iruka's cafe?

_Well, why wouldn't he? Everyone else seems to be! Urgh.. Damn his black eyes, damn the pale skin, damn the perfect body, morning meeting, first and last fight, DAMN ELEVATOR!_

Nope, nothing will ever leave Naruto's mind after this. As he walked back to the kitchen to change, he missed a flicker of light in the onyx eyes that intensely watched his back.

As soon as he changed from soaked clothing, which only took him a minute, and made sure someone cleaned the mess he made, Naruto went towards the table again. Sucking in a deep breath, he pushed back the thought that this was fate's some twisted way of giving him another chance to befriend this person. There was no way in hell, not that he still cared about that...

"Good day gentlemen and a lady. May I take your order?" He politely said, professional smile plastered to his face. Just as Iruka said, he mainly addressed the pretty young woman with short pink hair and bright emerald eyes. He did not want to look towards the source of his madness. No, not at all. Though his gaze did briefly slide towards the second man at the table who was also an owner of pale skin, long dark hair and very dark eyes. But just like Sai, he lacked something. It seemed that only one man had the kind of eyes he could not forget.

"We will ta.." the woman started but was rudely interrupted by the one voice Naruto hoped he would not have to hear.

"So are you an architect or a waiter? I am confused" everyone looked at him in surprise but not Naruto. He didn't look, nor was he surprised. He kind of got an inkling this morning that the man was a total prick, but he was not going to allow himself snap like earlier today. Not again.

"You were saying, miss?"

"I asked you a question" the annoying man persisted and the blond finally looked in his direction, mentally slapping himself for the mistake. The bastard looked even better than before with hair now neatly framing his face. _So, you_ _ **were**_ _late, jerk_ Naruto thought, guessing that the messy hairstyle of this morning was a sign of it.

"What would you like to order, sir?"

"I would like for you to respond" the dark eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"This is not on the menu, sir" the blue eyes narrowed in return.

"Hn." The man snorted and leaned back on the soft seat. "Just making sure you are not a stalker"

"What?!" Naruto gawked, eyes wide in disbelief. "I-I am not! Who would want to stalk your pale ass anyways?!"

"Then answer the question" lips curved in a slight smirk.

"Neither!" The blond finally snapped. "I work as an interior designer, not an architect, and I am not a waiter, I just help Iruka however I can. I also work at UofT observatory, if you are that interested, and as a tutor. Now, is anyone at this table ready to order?" He huffed the last part out looking at the other two people expectingly, steam coming out of the ears. It took a lot of effort to not punch the man in his perfect face and wipe the smirk off of it... _What a joke, how could this man be Iruka's important customer?!_

"Beef sukiyaki for the three of us, please." The second man at the table seemed slightly amused by the scene but the blond didn't care anymore. He just wanted to leave and let his father deal with them.

"Your meal will be here shortly. Miss, sir" he smiled at the pink haired woman and the man beside her and left, completely ignoring the infuriating bastard.

"What a dobe" Oh, he heard that...but decided to let it go and not turn around. They did not need to speak anymore... as Iruka said, he will handle the rest.

Indeed, they didn't speak afterwards, which was good. But while the bastard was eating his deliciously made lunch, the last comment was eating Naruto from the inside. It bothered him.. It bothered him that it bothered him.. which pissed him off even more.. he knew he had to do something. So, when the trio prepared to leave, the mysterious but impossibly rude man received a short note with the bill:

_"I am not a dobe, teme!"_

* * *

An hour later Naruto was still frustrated at everything that happened, at himself, too, for allowing the stranger get under his skin. He just could not help it, the man was able to piss him off much more than the elevators at his house!

"Argh!" The blond walked in circles inside Iruka's office, he finally got a break and tried to understand what the hell was going on. How was it even possible to have such strong reactions towards a complete stranger? They met only twice and for like fifteen minutes in total. But during these brief encounters, Naruto got to feel so many complicated emotions! And.. and.. it got him all confused and clumsy enough to drop salver and bump into doors, twice! He was angry at how everything in the man was getting on his nerves – the bastard's arrogance, tiny smirk on perfectly shaped face, and the look in his deep dark eyes. Everything was so infuriating!

Lost in thoughts, Naruto didn't notice a heavy presence in the office together with him. It grew with every passing second and already formed a dark cloud over his head with lightning strikes and thunder. This presence had a name..

I-R-U-K-A

...

...

The older man was standing in the doorway with arms crossed and watching his son walk circles around the desk, mumbling somethings to his nose. Whatever happened that made Naruto so distracted and clumsy was now affecting his business. That kind of behaviour was inexcusable, and he was not going to tolerate it, so the kid better have something to say for himself.

"What the hell was that?" he asked sharply, making the other jump in surprise. As his father closed the door and slowly walked towards him, Naruto realized just how pissed he was. He had all right to be, it was quite a performance there: overturned salver, spilt water, broken glasses...yeah, it was something! Sure it was entertaining for some, but it was a disgrace for Iruka as the owner.

"I am really sorry dad. It will never happen again" Naruto nervously run fingers through his hair. He truly regretted what happened, the issue wasn't just around spilt water, the way he talked to the customers was a problem, too. The bastard, damn him, was Iruka's important regular and should have been treated as such. If he stopped coming to the café, it would all be Naruto's fault.

The older man watched his son carefully and all his anger disappeared as he saw how tired and confused Naruto looked. Something was clearly wrong and time has come to find out what it was.

"Tell me what is going on."

"Urgh.. I don't understand it myself!" He's been trying to wrap his head around it for the whole day, dammit, unsuccessfully.

"You can start by explaining me what the hell happened. I mean, you have been acting strange for the entire day! First, you come to the café at 10 am instead of 5 pm. Which means you either didn't go to work or you left extremely early. Like 8 hours early! Moreover, you weren't even supposed to be here today! Then, you are not being as chipper as you usually are. You don't talk to me and the next thing I see is you making that scene over there, and now you are acting all weird going back and forth over here!"

Iruka was absolutely right, everything was strange, he was strange, but what could Naruto say?

"I.. um.. it's just.. er.."

"Just say something. You know you can talk to me about anything!"

"It's just that.."

"It's just what?" Iruka was losing it.. He was ready for anything already! Money problems, health problems, work problems – anything!

"THIS GUY IS DRIVING ME CRAZY FOR THE WHOLE DAY, DAMMIT! aaaaARGH!"

Well... he sure wasn't prepared for that...

"I mean, I don't even know the guy, not even his name, but a mere thought of him makes my blood boil!" Naruto was pulling out his hairs; if the bastard wasn't getting out of his head willingly, maybe that was a way to force him out of there?

To say that Iruka was stunned would have been an understatement. He has never heard his son raise a voice before, not since the elementary school. At the time, Naruto got into fights a lot, especially in the orphanage as older kids bullied him for having darker skin and naturally blond hair. In school, though, most students simply disregarded his existence. So, being loud, aggressive, and playing pranks on teachers, were just ways to draw attention to himself, to connect with others. After Naruto came to live with Iruka and started feeling more at home, he became calmer, very diligent in studies and extracurricular activities, also working part-time here and there. Eventually, even kids at school warmed up to him and he was able to make a lot of friends.

The older man was very proud of his boy, but thought that he always tried too hard to be mature. It was very rare for him to behave like a kid. And right now was one of those rare moments. The older man returned from the long past to reality, and in this reality his boy was breaking his head over not some conventional problems like money or work but about… about…

"So, wh-who is this b..b-boy?" he asked quietly and carefully, as if to not scare off some rare bird.

"Hugh? Boy? Oh hell no, he is not a boy!" Naruto finally looked at him. "Um.. It is your precious regular with a dark hair which only this morning looked like a duck's butt. He came here earlier with a pink-haired babe and a cool but creepy dude with a ponytail"

Iruka raised his brow and coldly looked at Naruto.

"You know, you would probably be in prison already if they heard you right now... And truthfully I feel like telling them this instant."

"EEEHH?" Naruto's eyes could compete with the decorative oranges that were on the desk in front of him. "Why is that? Who the hell are they?"

"I don't know what you did to Mr. Uchiha, but you definitely did something wrong. Explain to me, how do you know him?"

"I don't know him! Uchiha, hm?"

"Yes. The 'creepy dude with a ponytail', how you described him, was Itachi Uchiha, a politician. The 'pink haired babe' was Sakura Haruno, his head of public relations and communication. The third person was his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha – a businessman. He inherited Uchiha Corp. from their father" Iruka looked at his son, who was acting weirder and weirder.

"Damn teme, even the name sounds cool, almost perfect, as expected of the asshole.."

"Naruto, I need you to tell me what happened. I know Mr. Uchiha is not the kind of person who 'drives somebody crazy' just like that, out of fun."

"Yeah? Well, the Mr. Uchiha, how you call him, and the teme, how I call him, is doing nothing but that! Drives me nuts! And kills my brain cells, one by one. And I need them! The cells. They don't regenerate!"

"Calm down, young man! Just tell me, finally!"

Naruto sat on a chair feeling the strength leaving his body. Iruka followed his example preparing to hear the full story.

"Well, today I was late for work"

"Again? Naruto, this is out-dated already."

"Yes, again. But, but it's not my fault, dad! You know the elev.."

"I know, I know. The elevators at your house..." Iruka yawned, there was no hope to change this part of his son. "You were late and then?"

"I was waiting for an elevator in the lobby of our building, I was bored and then I saw the teme.." catching Iruka's fierce look he slowly corrected himself – " …Mr. Uchiha standing beside me. He caught my eye because he was dressed like a model from a GQ magazine, a sight I don't see often. And you know me, if I find something interesting, I would just look at it, from a designer's point of view of course, trying to understand the colour combinations, style, whatever. He looked just perfect: designer clothes and accessories perfectly matching, the unreal contrast between his hair and skin colours, and then there was this light behind him that made the scene look surreal. I couldn't see his eyes but was wandering which colour they were. So, I was.."

"… shamelessly staring at him." Iruka finished, and Naruto just blushed trying not to look at his dad.

"Yeah" he admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

"So, it was your fault, then?"

"EH?! When did you become such an understanding father?" Naruto asked sceptically "It was not my fault! I said I am sorry, but he called me an idiot!"

"And you?"

"I called him a bastard, then he called me a moron, and I called him a duck-butt because of his hair, and then the elevator arrived, I said sorry again, but he, being a total asshole, ignored me completely. Still, I tried talking to him and he called me a dobe. Can you believe it? Isn't he the biggest teme in the world? I am even ready to make a super special crown for him!"

Iruka was sitting there speechless while the young man in front of him continued rambling, emotionally moving hands from side to side.

"…I would even put glittering letters on it, saying "The Biggest Teme in the World", if it is not too long. Whatever. And then I just couldn't concentrate on work. Everything that was black reminded me of him and even the eyes of my coworker Sai, and the coffee you offered me this morning… Then, he came here and been saying shitty things just to piss me off. Mission accomplished, by the way! What's his problem? I mean the guy looks perfect, just like a Japanese porcelain doll and everything but his personality is the worst! It ruins the image so much it hurts to even think about it! Still, I can't get him out of my head and it drives me mad! I am going crazy and it is all because of him! I hate this bastard!"

By the time Naruto finished talking, he was running out of breath and Iruka just sat there silently processing everything. It did sound like a hell of day his son went through, but one thing was very wrong. He sighed and tried to explain.

"You know, Naruto, Sasuke Uchiha is a person, not some beautiful doll as you described him. It is also very natural for a **_person_** to have a _**personality**_. I am sure that regardless of how perfectly he may look to you, Mr. Uchiha has his own imperfections as there is no such thing as an ideal person. However it is very amusing to know that he would call somebody a dobe."

"Amusing, hugh? Not so much for me!"

"Don't start, Naruto. This is not what I meant. Usually, he is very polite, a bit arrogant and aristocratic, cold even, but it is natural for a man of his background and position. However, this childish side that would make him behave like this is amusing. And this applies to you too, young man."

"Me? How so?" _Iruka talks weird stuff_ , Naruto thought.

"Well, you are all confused and emotional like never before! You are clumsy and make mistakes at work, unable to concentrate, and you have no idea what's come into you."

"True" Naruto said softly, surrendering; indeed, his behaviour from the very start was quite childish, there was no point arguing. "So what should I do?"

"For starters, if you do meet him again, try looking past the facade and understand the person behind it. Then, maybe you will come to like him. Though, on second thought, after what happened at lunch, you should probably stay away. The Uchihas are very powerful people and if they don't like someone, it may not end well for that someone"

The younger man gaped at his father like a fish gasping for air. Just what kind of mess did he get himself into?

"um..dad? Just who is he exactly? this tem..Uchiha?"

"Oh right, you don't read the morning papers... I suggest you get yourself something other than scientific or interior design magazines. Something like news or business, you know, it is important to be aware of the things that are actually happening around you. You can google him later, but it would be better for you to forget whatever happened today. It is unfortunate that you two had an unpleasant encounter, but these things happen and there is no way around it. Just let it go and try not to make things worse."

"I'll try"

Naruto felt a bit better after talking things through with Iruka. He was able to spend the next few hours in peace, helping around the café, without random things reminding him of the dark-haired man, not even black coffee. He left the café feeling refreshed. Totally exhausted, but refreshed. Like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders and once agin, he was looking forward to the night at the observatory. It was the best idea ever to go to Iruka for help!

* * *

The bus ride home was slow due to the roads not yet cleared. It snowed surprisingly a lot today while he was inside but the blond didn't complain, he was just glad that his day has taken a turn for the better. Naruto was so happy that he even smiled and chatted a bit with a person sitting beside him about the wonderful weather they were having.

Halfway through the ride, Naruto remembered that he needed to make a call to the office and properly apologize to Jiraya. Also, ask Sai to send materials for the new project to his home computer. Stars and porcelain accents didn't bother him anymore so he decided to take on renovating that condo Sai talked about. He happily dialled the number but...

"Brat, dammit! You even dare to call me after disappearing for the day?! I will fire you, I will definitely FIRE YOU, YOU HEAR ME-E-E-E?"

Naruto jumped in shock from the loud voice on the other end of the line and quickly moved the phone away from the ear to preserve his hearing. Unfortunately, the motion caused his neighbour to suffer instead. The man immediately changed his seat.

"S..sir, let me.." the blond stuttered trying to explain himself, but his boss was just too furious to listen.

"Don't even bother coming tomorrow! YOU'RE DONE!"

"But sir.."

"No, wait... You may come... I will be waiting for you tomorrow. Khe-Khe. Just you come, dear.. _beep-beep-beep…"_

Jiraya's voice was as cold as the death itself causing icy shivers run down Naruto's spine and droplets of sweat appear on his forehead. He jumped in the seat again as the phone he was holding slowly slipped from his hand a landed on his lap.

He screwed up.

Badly.

Jiraya had plans for him tomorrow that could only end in Naruto being killed. Knowing his boss, it would be a slow, but very very painful process... At this point, he couldn't even remember if his will was finalized or not. His heart nearly stopped when the phone chimed, making him jump again. It was only a text message, but the frightened blond didn't want to look at it. The sound did indicate that it came from the office...

Deciding to finally take a look, Naruto sighed in relief seeing that it came from Sai. His colleague explained that Jiraya was furious. Well, he already knew that...It also mentioned that tomorrow is a Saturday and by Monday their boss would calm down and start demanding new designs for Ms. Tsunade and the new project, files for which have already been sent to his home computer.

The blond was relieved beyond belief and feeling his heart beating again promised to make himself some herbal tea once he gets home, a lot of herbal tea...


	4. Floor 4. When elevators have plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a stressful day, Naruto can't wait to be home and get some sleep but elevators have other plans...

Naruto walked into his building shivering from the cold. The snowfall started coming down hard just as he left the bus, getting in the eyes, nose, mouth, and forming a little snowman on his head. He shook the melting snow off like a stray dog and went towards the elevators, slowly relaxing to the welcoming warmth of the lobby.

Not surprised at the fact that one of the three elevators was on service and the other two slowly moving up, Naruto waited patiently. He noted that the building manager put up a Christmas tree and decorations here and there, it looked rather cute, actually.

Elevators aside, he really liked it there. The building was located in a quiet neighbourhood just outside of downtown Tokyo and had easy access to transit, local shops, and a couple of nice parks. It had a gym with pool and complimentary swimming and yoga lessons. There was even a game room, but he never had time to actually go there.

His patience started running thin when one of the elevators didn't stop at the ground floor, but instead moved past to the parking level. He could see that it stopped at the lowest floor where the most expensive parking spaces were located, but it didn't bother him, not at all... It was okay, he could still wait...

Finally, the elevator chimed and the blond, anxious to get home, prepared to walk in. However, as the door opened he lost all desire to do so...

_Crap...not again..._

"I-I'll just wait for another, you g-go ahead" Naruto said to the man inside, then turned around and prayed that this entire thing was just a bad dream. Since when did he start stuttering?

"Get inside, dobe. You start pissing me off." The soft baritone instantly sent a wave of goosebumps all over Naruto's body and he could almost feel the pair of midnight black eyes drilling through the back of his head.

_Why does it keep happening?_

Like hypnotized, he slowly faced the man inside the elevator and froze under the intense stare.

"Don't wanna..." He mumbled, backing away slightly.

There was no way it was happening again. And if it were, nothing good could come out of being inside the hateful metal box together with the insatiable man that already managed to ruin his day, twice. What was this bastard doing here anyway? The blond quickly went through all possible reasons for Sasuke Uchiha being inside the elevator in his building. Was he visiting someone? Maybe, but chances were slim. Was he a stalker? Doubtful, but possible. Did he work for some secret organization and had an assignment to kill all of Naruto's brain cells? Okay...this one was too much.

"Just get in. Or you're scared?"

On second thought, that was exactly what the raven haired man was doing – mercilessly killing Naruto's brain cells. One by one. Every. Damn. Second. _Retard._

"Okay, teme!" The blond quickly went inside, immediately cursing his decision. Though, he figured that everything was going to be over in a few seconds as the second floor is not far. He just needed to stay calm... "I am in, happy now?"

"Hn. Which floor?" Sasuke asked as the elevator's door slid close.

"Second" _stay calm.._

"Lazy moron"

"Hey, shut up!" How was it even possible to stay calm around this person?! All these perfect features were wasted on this man. He's just intolerable! "I can't use stairs! And why are you here, anyway?"

Though before the other man could answer the elevator chimed and opened the door. Naruto let out a sigh of relief and continued:

"Nah, forget it. I don't want to know. I am going to walk out of this damn elevator and forget all about you."

He turned around swiftly and walked away, the two objects of his hatred left behind, forgotten. Out of his life. Forever.

The End.

* * *

As if!

That was not what happened, though Naruto couldn't quite grasp what did, exactly. He was not given a chance to take even a single step outside as out of nowhere he was forcibly yanked back by a hand on his shoulder.

Eyes wide in disbelief, he watched the elevator door close before him.

...

...

The damn machine was now happily moving up and away from Naruto's floor.

...

The blond shook his head trying to put the thoughts together and keep his rage in the cage but to no avail. Who did this bastard think he was?!

"What the hell was this for, teme?!" He violently brushed off the hand and glared straight into the midnight black orbs. Damn stars distracting him. "Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

He was tired, frustrated and deserved the answers, dammit. So, he demanded a response from the man that was driving him crazy for the whole day. The same man that he met for the first time only this morning and with whom he didn't even have what could possibly be considered a legitimate conversation. The owner of the most powerful and cold eyes he ever saw that still shone like starry skies. How could this beautiful man be so mean? It was disappointing...angering even.

"That was not your floor"

"Huh?" Naruto stared completely dumbfounded. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"The elevator skipped your floor and stopped on the third"

The blond remembered that this already happened a few times before. On several occasions, he found himself trying to unlock the door of the apartment located just above his, like a total idiot. Thankfully it didn't seem like anyone lived there, so there were no problems.

It was too embarrassing to admit that this time, being as angry as he was and not paying attention to surroundings, Naruto would have repeated his mistake, so he did the next best thing...

"I knew that!" ...he lied... But hey, the bastard needed to mind his own business! "I planned to wait for another elevator! The one without you in it!"

Black eyes narrowed at the last comment.

"Hn. Liar"

"I am not!"

"You lied this morning, too"

"No, I didn't!" Naruto shouted back frustrated at how calm the other's voice sounded. "Not this morning!"

"So, you admit to lying now"

Urgh... He dug this grave himself...

"Yes, I lied" he said dejectedly. "I didn't know that was not my floor, but I didn't lie this morning, I was not staring at you, not in a literal sense"

"What makes you think I would believe you? You already have an established track record"

Deciding that now was the time to set the record straight about this mornings events, Naruto took a deep breath, looked at the man with determination and said "Listen, I.." but was met with an elegant brow raising in curiosity, damn, all the little things in this arrogant man were driving him nuts.. "I made a mistake this morning! I admit it, okay? I saw you standing there looking like a cover of a magazine and started thinking about work related matters, as a designer, you see? There was a certain harmony and contrast in colours and patterns that picked my interest, only as a designer"

"Really?" The man asked sceptically.

"I lost myself in thoughts and it looked like I was staring, which pissed you off. But I apologized already, didn't I?"

"And what was it about stars?"

"Argh!" Naruto shut his eyes tight to keep the last pieces of his sanity. There was no way he was explaining the bastard how gorgeous his eyes were. He needed to end all things between them, even though he didn't quite understand what it was between them. "I was indeed thinking about stars! It is related to my other job! Anyways, this is not a reason to stalk me know!"

"I am not stalking" the raven crossed arms in front of him and leaned on the elevator mirror, looking infuriatingly calm and composed.

"Why else would you be here? You didn't answer this question before by the way, just like the other one!"

"I live here"

"Now, who is lying?! You are Sasuke Uchiha, shouldn't you live in a mansion somewhere? With maids, butlers, and no elevators?" The blond snorted. From what Iruka told him, the man's family could buy all of Tokyo three times over.. Why live in a condo?

"Hn. So, you know my name..." Naruto's eyes narrowed at the smirk on Sasuke's face. He missed a tiny spark of excitement in the dark eyes though. "...and now you know where I live. Are you absolutely sure, you are not the stalker here?"

"Hugh? Are you seriously asking this again?! I only know it because of Iruka's nagging after the fiasco at lunch! Which was all your fault by the way! And you keep changing the subject and avoiding questions!" The blond expressively pointed an index finger at the arrogant man. He froze when the black eyes narrowed and elegant brows curved in a frown. Was it from anger or disappointment? Whatever it was, it sent his heart racing at an incredible speed.

Sasuke took a step forward, wrapped his palm around Naruto's wrist and violently pulled him close.

"Because of Iruka's nagging, huh?" The man growled, voice cold as the snow outside, sending shivers down the blond's spine. "And you were staring at me with these ocean deep eyes only as a designer?" The man took a step with each word, forcing Naruto to retreat all the way to the opposing side of the elevator, until his back was pressed against the wall. "And you plan on forgetting all about me as soon as you step outside, Hn?" Sasuke's pressed even more forward until their noses almost touched. "Everything."

"Hugh?" Naruto felt his heart stop for a moment, cheeks growing with colour as he stared into the two black holes before him, tantalizing fragrance tickling his senses with every inhale.

"You asked me what I want from you" the man continued. "You won't forget about me, because I intend to make you m.."

The elevator chimed, signalling its arrival to whatever floor that was. Naruto jumped at the sound and sucked in a sharp breath as the movement made their noses brush softly against each other.

The businessman slowly closed his eyes and grumbled under his breath.. "Damn elevator".. unintentionally letting his lips ghost over Naruto's in the process.

The raven then walked out of the elevator leaving the blond behind, and only turned around to say:

"See you around, Naruto Uzumaki"

Left alone in the hateful metal box, Naruto stood there speechless staring into space. He wanted to run after Sasuke, force him to finish the sentence and explain what exactly he meant by that, then, ideally, kick the prick's ass. His body didn't want to obey his wishes though, it froze to the wall and refused to move a muscle. Hell, he couldn't even blink.

The elevator started moving downwards, and with it, Naruto's senses slowly started coming back. He pressed the button for his floor and looked at himself in the mirror.

He was a mess.

Tousled hair were still wet from walking outside, flushed cheeks competed with the bright red scarf he wore, dilated pupils made the eyes look so much darker. He looked as shocked as he felt. Skin on his wrist suddenly got cold from the absence of heat that was there just moments ago and Naruto stared at it blankly. Thoughts were running frantically through his head trying to comprehend what triggered the bastard's weird outburst and the blond's reaction to it. Everything became so much more confusing..

He broke the promise to Iruka... He made things so much worse...

* * *

Once inside the apartment, Naruto absentmindedly hanged his drenched coat on a hanger to dry, he was going to need it again in just a few hours. He then threw other stuff in the washer and went to shower.

Hot water pleasantly massaged tense muscles and slowly relaxed the stressed out blond. He could finally close the eyes and even out his breathing.

"What was that all about?" Naruto quietly asked no one, massaging his temples. There was no way he could answer this question himself, though. So, he made a mental note to confront the bastard the next time they meet. Would they meet again? Did Naruto want to meet him again?

The blond groaned at the last thought. Somehow, it seemed like meeting the bastard again was not a choice but a matter of time. Like something changed in the Universe the first time they met.

He snorted remembering the intention to forget the man as soon as he walked out the elevator. It's going to be so much more difficult to do now, when it was not just the eyes of the bastard stuck in his head. He could easily recall how Sasuke's deep voice vibrated in his ears and almost feel the warm hand still firmly wrapped around his wrist. He memorized the man's whole face so much better after seeing it up close, and the smirk. God, that smirk should be illegal for making Naruto's insides flip as much as it did. Porcelain white skin was as soft as silk and he hated himself whole heartedly for noticing it from only one accidental touch of their noses.

The image of Sasuke Uchiha standing impossibly close to Naruto was too vivid. It felt as if the man was still standing right there in front of him... in the shower... midnight eyes burning him through with emotion he could not quite understand.

As wet fingertips softly touched his parted lips, the blue eyes snapped open in shock.

"Dammit! The hell am I thinking?!" Frustrated, he washed himself quickly and walked out of the shower. Wrapped in a towel, he went to the kitchen – it was time for that tea he promised himself in the bus.

After turning on the kettle, the blond went through his stash of different teabags to find something relaxing. One scent caught his attention and he groaned at sudden realization.

"The bastard smelled like freaking bergamot..." he mumbled remembering the fragrance he felt in the elevator. "And you, sir Earl Grey, are getting out of here. Fast" the innocent tea bags flew into the trash can at the speed of light.

Happy to be rid of irritating smell and finally settling on a blend of chamomile and cornflowers, he left the kitchen to search for some sleeping pants and to tidy up his home a bit while waiting for the kettle to boil.

Naruto's apartment was just a tiny studio but it's clever layout held everything he needed and wanted. He was not an interior designer in a name only and he put all the knowledge into designing the place so that it gave him total relaxation after working hard days and nights.

There were two large windows that usually gave the room a lot of light during the day making it feel more spacious. Though most of the time they were covered by heavy curtains, bright orange in colour contrasting with creamy walls. They were needed to filter out the sometimes problematic excess of light to accommodate Naruto's rather unique sleeping habits. Due to him working at the observatory at night and at the Paradise Architectures during the day he slept twice – four hours in the afternoon and four and a half in the morning. This way he was getting enough hours of sleep while still keeping up with his crazy schedule.

He rarely had visitors so the room was divided into only two zones: a home office and sleeping area. What separated the zones was a tiered bright orange bookshelf accessible from both sides. The lowest tier also acted as a table for when his guests did come over, square stools were smartly hidden within the shelf too.

His office space was usually the one in need of tiding up, he kept too many books there even for his own liking. Unfortunately, not all research papers were available online, so he had to have copies to make proper references in his thesis. As the blond was cleaning his desk, he battled the urge to turn on the computer and google the bastard. He almost lost, but the sound of boiled kettle saved him.

Once he poured hot water into a mug, he went to his sleeping area and settled comfortably on the bed, which was actually just a thick mattress laying on the carpeted floor with lots of colourful pillows. His friend Kiba once said that too many pillows is a sign of loneliness but Naruto refused to believe it, he just liked them. They were bright, fluffy, and made him happy, the rest can burn in hell. These said pillows in combination with warm herbal tea did a damn good job at making him feel nice and cozy.

Finishing the cup he turned off the lights, set up an alarm for 8:30pm, crawled under the covers, and just laid there staring at the ceiling, which was a work of art on its own. With the help of his colleague Sai, he painted it with a special paint that was invisible during the day but glowed in the dark, giving off a feeling of the night sky above.

It was beautiful, but not as beautiful as the starry eyes he saw today. Again, the images of Sasuke Uchiha from multiple encounters were haunting him. Like a movie, each meeting played before his eyes, confusing him even more. Naruto finally admitted to himself that he found the man attractive, not just the face, but the aura he carried, and the arrogance..

_He said that my eyes are ocean deep..what did he mean by that?_

"Dammit!" he abruptly interrupted his thoughts. "Stop thinking about the damn teme! Again, all of this is because of the damn eleva-to-r-hugh?!"

Naruto gasped and set up abruptly on the bed, breathing heavily, blue eyes wide and a trembling hand covering his mouth. Something weird just happened. What was it? He was about to blame the hateful metal box for skipping the floor and making him spend more time with the bastard, but felt a faint touch of Sasuke's lips over his...

_Why?! No it couldn't be..._

"Damn elev-ARGH!" It was happening again! A soft brush of lips just like in the elevator. Shit. This was no longer elevator's fault! It was the bastard's! Damn! "DAMN TE-ME-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E!"


	5. Floor 5. Bad dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say that restless sleep can only lead to a disastrous day, but to Naruto it seems...fine? Kiba begs to differ.

Naruto was standing on the edge of a cliff enjoying gentle gusts of wind playing with his spiky hair and edges of loose sleeping pants, bare feet buried in cool grass. The water underneath looked calm and practically glowed, reflecting the moonlight and numerous stars. The ocean seemed to stretch far enough to become one with the endless sky above.

_...Beautiful..._

A couple of fallen stars crossed by as he watched, completely mesmerized by the view.

The blond breathed in deeply—air fresh and cool, and a bit salty—and took a step forward...

Instead of falling down, his body—light as a feather—slid up and he found himself floating, getting closer and closer to the stars. He never felt so free...

Another fallen star swished by, it swirled around him and gently brushed his cheek, it's warmth ticking the skin. Few more flew up to the grinning young scientist whispering something in his ears and making him laugh. Never before has he been so close to the stars, surrounded by them.

_...Magical..._

Suddenly there were glass walls around, separating him from the beautiful new friends. The walls turned into metal completely blocking the view and he panicked realizing that it was an elevator.

The hateful metal box was falling fast into the dark abyss. His hands frantically banged on the door, trying to force it open, but still unable to get out. He was trapped.

_...Suffocating..._

Out of the shadows, two strong pale hands appeared and wrapped around his wrists, thumbs brushing over both pulses. The touch was warm and gentle, instantly calming him down. A hauntingly familiar figure came to light and everything else paled into the background. Sasuke was the only thing Naruto could see.

All thoughts and worries disappeared as firm lips landed on his. Lightly at first, like a feather, but then pressed harder demanding a response. The blond melted into the kiss, a soft moan escaping him as a wet muscle pried his mouth open and explored every inch of it. The raven's hips pressed into his and suddenly everything felt right.

_...Heavenly..._

When Naruto snapped awake, sweat pouring off his body, heart racing, and chest heaving, he was certain of two things. One – he had a very uncomfortable problem beneath the covers. Two – a certain teme deserved to die a slow and horrible death.

He had trouble falling asleep, obviously. Even looking at the starry ceiling didn't help. Not even a tiny little bit. Nada. He would look at it and see beautifully black eyes looking straight into his soul. With every breath, he would sense faint fragrance of bergamot and a soft brush of nose over his. Hence the dream. Correction, _nightmare_. A highly terrifying one to that.

Groaning, he checked the time—quarter after 9pm. The driver from the lab usually picked him up at 9:30pm. _Shit._

"Argh!... Damn teme!", he hurriedly jumped out of bed and into the shower with no time to spare.

What would normally be a slow start of the day ('morning' for him, 'night' for the rest of you people) turned into frantic hurdling around the apartment.

There wasn't any of his usual lazy dancing on the kitchen floor to the tunes of a North American radio while making breakfast. Instead—like a hurricane—he raided his fridge for anything edible. _**Anything**_. Because there were _**tons**_ of stores open at 1am when he was having his lunch...and nothing in the universe would make Kiba share...

He also did not have a chance to carefully pack his research materials. Whatever paper laying on the desk was unceremoniously showed into his bag, some of it was most definitely what he needed.

Surprisingly, Naruto managed to get out of the building without too much trouble. The elevator was unusually fast and he affectionately plastered himself to the metal box in an attempted hug whispering _'Thank you, Thank you!'_

The driver greeted him as usual, and everything seemed fine. Though, halfway to the observatory the young scientist realized that he didn't check the weather conditions for the night.

"Crap..." he drove hands through his hair and almost tore it off in frustration. Kiba will have his head off..

* * *

At the Konoha Observatory, to the tunes of old pop-rock classics, an energetic brunet was busy preparing the main telescope for the night ahead.

Kiba Inuzuka was a 23 years old graduate of the UofT and the lead mechanic of the lab. He took over this role from his mentor, Professor Sarutobi Asuma, who was forced to retire early by his wife. She recently gave birth to their daughter and was fed up with the 9pm-5am schedule her husband had to live by. Professor Sarutobi continued teaching at the university but entrusted the observatory to his brightest and most favourite student. Or so he loved to think.

Kiba and his team were responsible for cleaning, measuring, calibrating different equipment on the premises and also assisting researchers when needed. The word ' _mechanic_ ' might sound demeaning, to some, but he knew well enough that none of the 'stuck up astronomers' were able to progress in their research without his team around. And his team was lost without a proper leadership. Which made him practically irreplaceable...

He loved this word, ' _irreplaceable_ ', it had a nice ring to it and helped him get away with many things, including but not limited to making his aid Konohomaru clean bathrooms on any given day, showering Naruto with affection in the form of a bucket of water above the entrance, or bringing his dog Akamaru for the 'take your kid to work day'.

 _Ah, it is good to be me_ he thought, a satisfied grin plastered to his face.

The control room Kiba was in had a huge glass window that allowed him to see the main telescope in all it's glory, while he keyed in the starting coordinates and directed it to the right portion of the sky.

The Beast, as he called it, was almost 12m tall with a 3.5m wide mirror and was classified as a ground-based, advanced optical system for detection and tracking of faint objects in space, such as asteroids. It's innovative technology allowed for identification of precise location of discovered objects and extrapolate their course.

The brunet was almost done with setting everything up for Naruto when he heard a voice behind him.

"Inuzuka, when you are done helping Uzumaki, please come to the basement. Your assistance is needed in my lab."

God, Kiba loved this smooth aristocratic voice... He closed his eyes for a brief second in pleasure, then quickly turned around and showed his very best toothy smile to the scientist in the doorway.

"Sure thing, Neji" _Damn, you look good in that white coat, as always._

"It's Professor Hyuga" pale eyes narrowed in annoyance. "How many times do I have to correct you?"

Neji Hyuga was what people call a genius. Graduated from the UofT at 18, got his PhD at 22, and now, at 24, he was teaching Astrometry during the day and at night he was here, at the lab, doing the most important job in Japan – measuring time and transmitting it to the whole country. He was well respected in the scientific community and admired by all workers of the observatory. Especially by the one lead mechanic.

Professor Hyuga was responsible for the Japan's own atomic clock located in the basement of Konoha Observatory. It was one of over 400 clocks that use resonance frequencies of atoms to measure time. Clocks work independently from each other, but broadcast the measurements in real time using GPS signals to the International Committee for Weights and Measures in France - an organization that then calculates a weighted average of timecodes received and transmits back to the whole world as the 'true' time. Japan, though, received the time directly from their lab.

Basically, if you ever need to ask someone for the time, Neji is your guy.

"Always so serious Professor Hyuga..." Kiba sighed. "As soon as everything is set up here, I will be right over"

He truly looked forward to joining Neji at the lab downstairs where all the time in Japan belonged to them. Literally.

"Thank you. I hope the blond idiot does not do anything that could delay you"

"Oh, you wouldn't want anyone to delay Kiba, would you? And who exactly are you calling an idiot here, pretty boy?" Naruto inquired from the hallway. "By the way, I can delay Kiba as much as I want to. He is not yours, he is mine!" seeing the pale eyes sparkle with anger was priceless.

"Did you know, Uzumaki, that this building was used as a prison during the Second World War?" Neji slowly put a palm of his hand on a white wall beside him, preventing Naruto from walking past him "Though now fully rebuilt and renovated, some may say that the basement—where most of the prisoner torture happened—was left pretty much the same" He pointedly looked at the blond—pale eyes cold and dangerous as the sky before a snowstorm. "Would you like me to show you sometime?"

Naruto laughed nervously. Perhaps he shouldn't tease Neji so much...

"Inuzuka" the young professor didn't move his eyes from the astronomer before him, but raised his voice enough for Kiba to hear "I expect you in _my_ lab in no more than an hour, _no delays_ "

"Ok!" Kiba shouted back excitedly, completely oblivious to what was happening in the hallway. At that the tall brunet turned around and walked away, leaving the frightened blond behind.

Naruto walked into the room and greeted his friend quietly, while trying to untangle his super long scarf with suddenly numb fingers. Hell, Neji knew how to make threats...

"What did you two talk about?" Kiba asked as he settled again behind the controls.

"Nothing." Naruto answered rather too quickly and decided to immediately change the subject "You better explain what the hell you're listening..."

"It's classics, man!"

"Sure..." Naruto rolled his eyes. That boring sound was so not classics... "Did you watch that Guardians of the Galaxy crap again?"

Kiba was about to defend his most favourite movie of all time but got distracted by papers flying out of Natuto's bag. The blond cursed trying to pick up his stuff.

"What the hell? Are these your sketches?" The brunet picked up a few pages from the floor and looked through intricate drawings. He admitted that they looked kind of cool. "Did you skip work or sothething and now have to work on it here?"

"Shut up Kiba! I overslept today and basically grabbed whatever was on the desk" Naruto snatched the sheets from his colleague's hands and showed them back in the bag.

"Ok man, whatever you say. Which of these are your weather notes? I need to key in the coefficient of refraction" Kiba expectingly looked at the suddenly motionless blond.

"Urgh...about that..." Naruto started, one of his hands nervously scratching the back of his neck.

"You can't be serious!" Kiba threw his hands in the air "This is like the only thing you scientists need to do before coming here! Check the damn weather and bring me the calculated coefficient of refraction! dammit!"

"I am sorry ok?! This is all the damn elev-gah!-fault. I mean... w-well y-you know!"

Kiba tilted his head in interest, his friend was acting strange. "Your stuttering is weird. We'll talk about that later." He pointed a finger at Naruto to note that this conversation was not over, and then screamed "Shikaaa!"

"You called?" the answer came out of a corner of the room making Kiba jump in the air emitting a very manly and dignified scream.

"Jesus! You scared me man! How long have you been on this couch?"

"...not long" came a slightly delayed response.

Shikamaru Nara was one of the members of Kiba's crew. He was a tall man with light brown hair tied in a high ponytail. A man of his size would normally be hard to miss, but this guy had an incredible ability to blend in with the shadows.

"I've been here for the past half hour and didn't see or hear you coming in!" Kiba hissed at the man but didn't receive a reply. "Not long, my ass... Come, help us out. Dumb-face here forgot to check the weather today"

"Don't call me that, dog-breath!" Naruto slapped the back of his head.

Shikamaru unwillingly left his very comfy couch with a quiet ' _Troublesome_ ' and took Kiba's place behind the control computer. In just a few minutes, he entered all required parameters from what seemed to be memory but actually was the result of carefully done calculations in his head.

Both of his colleagues stared at him in awe. It was not the first time they witnessed the man at work, but still, it was a sight hard to get used to. If Neji was called a genius, Shikamaru redefined the whole concept.

"Shika, I don't get it." Naruto finally asked the question that he wanted to ask since long time ago. "You're as smart as Neji. Maybe even smarter. Hell, I am sure you can get any job you want. Why this, with this dog-lover here?"

The last comment earned him a glare from the lead mechanic, who decided to answer as the man in question was already fast asleep on the couch. "This way, if he sleeps during the day no one calls him lazy"

 _..But he sleeps here too..._ Naruto was about to add, but a cheerful and excited yell from the doorway interrupted him.

"Hey boys!" the two turned around to see a tall, blond young woman with her hair in four ponytails walking towards them "I made it!"

"This is great Temari!" Naruto quickly gave her a hug and helped her out of the coat. She was slightly taller than him, but he was still a gentleman. "How was you flight?"

Temari Sabaku was one of a few scientists in Japan specializing in planetary physics. Her team was known for several discoveries related to thermal processes on Venus and Jupiter. She was also the one that recruited Naruto to find an asteroid that was fated to collide with one of the planets in the Solar System.

"Oh, when we got delayed in Suna, I though we'll never make it—the snowstorm was crazy! I heard you had some here too, right? But then, the sky cleared and everything was just marvellous! I am not late, am I? When is the first passing?"

"Should be up in 22 minutes" came a bored response from Shikamaru who was suddenly behind the control computer again. When he got there, no one knew. Kiba looked at him questioningly, wasn't he sleeping on the couch just a minute ago? But then he just shook his head and asked the young woman how she got here from the airport—he got a very bad feeling about it.

"Oh, my little brother picked me up and drove me here." The blonde answered, making herself comfortable on the couch. "It is good to have some family in Tokyo"

"He dropped you off and drove away, right?"

"Um, no. He went to visit someone in the basement. Why?"

"Oh no he didn't! Damn Sabaku!" With that Kiba flew out of the room, all responsibilities forgotten.

"What's with him?" Temari asked Shikamaru as Naruto was in no condition to respond, trying to suppress a hysteric laugh and failing miserably.

"One could say say that him and Gaara both have a certain _appreciation_ for _time_ "

* * *

Kiba ran frantically through the endless corridors towards the elevator leading to the basement. That evil raccoon Sabaku! Every damn chance he got, the red-headed bastard would try to get in between him and Neji, always making advancements on the oblivious professor and making the mechanic look as bad as possible in the process.

It all started about a year ago, at a Christmas soirée.

Who in their right mind would call a Christmas party a _soirée_? Kiba knew right away it was a bad idea to go, but his mentor, Sarutobi-san, insisted. It was an annual black-tie event hosted by the university for the elite of the Tokyo scientific community: widely known professors, prominent scientists, patrons of science (aka sponsors), top students with promising futures (aka kids of the earlier mentioned), and the regular employees of the Konoha Observatory, where the event took place.

It was the most grand and looked forward to event of the year, or, in Kiba's words, the most devastatingly boring event of all... If he were to hear one more ' _what a wonderful winter we're having_ ' he would drown himself in the sparkly disgusting drink that was passed around. He looked at the tall and narrow glass in his hand and quietly wondered if it was shaped that way just to prevent him from doing exactly that.

As the evening progressed he found himself at the back of the room, bored out of his mind. Surprisingly, he was not alone. A young redhead was standing not far from him, looking rather unimpressed by the crowd. Sensing the kindred spirit in the man, Kiba approached him and started a conversation that turned out to be quite fun.

The man introduced himself as Gaara Sabaku, he was in his final year at UofT and was dragged to the party by his older sister. Just like Kiba, he did not enjoy formal gatherings like this and admitted to spending the first half hour here searching for beer. Did no one here knew about beer?

Seemingly emotionless, Gaara would make comments about people around them that would make Kiba break out into a loud snort and clutch his gut laughing with his entire body. They made fun of the food, the waiters, and dancing couples that just didn't fit together. Talked about poor wardrobe and make up choices and how some people tried just way too hard to make an impression on others. They seemed to have a lot in common, from how they take their coffee to how they choose a partner, both admitted to loving long dark hair that is so rarely seen nowadays.

All in all, Kiba concluded, Gaara was a fun guy, in a creepy kind of way, but totally up his alley. It may not have been such a boring party after all.

They were in the midst of talking about sports (both rooted for the same baseball team, obviously), when Kiba's train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

"Oh my god, I just saw an angel walk in" he admitted to his new friend, eyes on a couple by the entrance.

The couple—a charming young woman and a handsome young man—was slowly moving through the crowd, exchanging pleasantries with other guests. The way they resembled each other clearly indicated that they were related, which allowed Kiba let out a breath. They were dressed impeccably: both wore white with a touch of silver that highlighted incredibly pale eyes and contrasted with long dark hair, making them look unearthly, angelic.

"Ah, that would be Hinata and Neji Hyuga" Gaara clarified. "Cousins. She is the heiress of the Hyuga, Hyuga and Associates (a lawyers firm). Don't be fooled by her pretend timidness, she is as sharp as shark's teeth in the courtroom. And he is a Professor of Astrometry at UofT and recently got a position here at Konoha Observatory"

"I think I am in love..."

"Neji is very overprotective of Hinata, why don't I distract him while you ask her for a dance?"

"Oh, no, that's okay" Kiba blushed. "Why don't you dance with Hinata while I-I distract N-neji?" God, he love this name already...it created a tornado of butterflies in his stomach making him stutter like a schoolgirl but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered in this world anymore aside from the beautiful man that was actually walking in their direction. _For real?_

Green eyes suddenly turned cold at realization.

"I would rather not" he said curtly and stormed pass Kiba towards the couple. The brunet rushed after him not quite grasping what just happened.

"What do you mean? Will you at least introduce me to them?"

Once both of them reached the Hyugas and wished them a good evening, Gaara has made the introduction:

"Neji, this is Kiba Inuzuka, Sarutobi-san's apprentice. He made some inappropriate comments about Hinata's cleavage. I, of course, told him off, but beware of this mutt"

Oh, how short lived their friendship has been...

Kiba could only gape at his now clearly ex-friend and was forced to close his mouth by blushing Hinata who slapped him with the strength not fitted to a lady.

That day, that party, that _soirée_ marked the start of The Great Inuzuka-Sabaku War.


	6. Floor 6. Demonic device

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaara makes an entry and gets Neji all confused. Nothing seems to be going right for Kiba and Naruto realizes that people were totally right about restless sleep leading to disastrous days.

Kiba waited impatiently for an elevator to arrive. What was wrong with it lately? He called the service company several times over the past few weeks, but they couldn't find anything wrong with the damn thing. It run like a well-oiled machine during the servicing but slowed down and stopped every single time Kiba was using it to go to Neji's lab. Strange thing was that no one else complained—aside from Naruto, who always complained. It's like no one seemed to notice, not even Neji who used it most often, and there were never any problems with the thing on the way up and away from the Time lab. Weird.

Maybe Naruto was right to hate these useless metal boxes that seemed to conspire against them.

Kiba looked at his watch—it's been five minutes. He estimated that Gaara's been downstairs for longer than ten minutes now. It was ten minutes too long for his liking, too many things could happen. Too damn many things.

"Fuck it!" Kiba exclaimed and run towards the stairs, there was no way he was letting Sabaku remain in Neji's lab any longer without his supervision.

Just as he opened the door to the stairwell and prepared himself to flee down the stairs two-three at a time, the elevator chimed and the brunet stopped dead in his tracks.

Kiba looked at it in suspicion, the damn thing was totally mocking him. He cautiously moved towards it, still considering his options. Deciding that as the thing was finally here it would be much faster to use it than take the stairs, he sped up and run the last few steps to get there before the doors closed.

Once in, he pressed the button for the basement and let out a slow breath—he was on the way to Neji's and just a minute away from kicking the Sabaku's pale ass out of the observatory.

_Yes..._

He was so looking forward to it that he could almost feel it, how awesome it would be to see the boot print on dark expensive jeans the prick always wore. Then he was going to make sure Hidan at the gates did not let the man on the premises under any circumstances.

_Ever..._

Neji's lab was only four floors below. The doors were about to open any second now, but instead, the elevator suddenly slowed its movement and then stopped completely. Kiba's eyes went wide.

"No-no-no-no!" he banged on the metal furiously "Fuck! I knew I should have taken the stairs!" The brunet pressed the emergency button and waited for the call go through. Unfortunately there was no sound. He frantically took out his phone as he remembered the elevator guy giving him a special number to call, but there was no service. He hit the door few more times and swore to have the darn thing replaced immediately, but only after he wreaks it with a hammer. At that, the only light inside went off and Kiba was left alone in complete darkness.

"DAMN ELEVATOR!"

* * *

"It is very uncharacteristic of you to smile, Gaara." Neji looked curiously at his friend, who was fiddling with his phone. "Something good happened?"

"You could say that" the redhead said, quickly putting the gadget away and trying to change his facial expression to the usual indifference. "There is someone who keeps me entertained as of late"

A mischievous glint in the green eyes did not come by unnoticed to the young professor. They have known each other since they were kids and though on the inside Gaara was one of the most fun and caring people Neji knew, on the outside, the redhead always appeared to be cold and emotionless. A display of emotions like the smile just now was a sign of a fairly recent change in him. His friend was changing and someone Neji didn't know was responsible for it, but for now, he was willing to let it go, so he smiled and offered his visitor some coffee.

* * *

Naruto paced around the lab nervously, biting his nails and drawing hands through his hair. He looked at the wall clock in the umpteenth time, then at his wrist watch and, not liking what he saw, groaned. "Dammit. Where is he?!" It's been almost 20 minutes!

"Calm down Naruto, I am sure he will be here soon" Temari tried to soothe him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"No, he wont!" the blond cried, throwing his arms up in frustration and storming off to the side. "You're partially to blame. Why did you have to bring Gaara with you?" he whined knowing fully well that it wasn't her fault but his idiot dog-loving friend's. Yes, Gaara came by to flirt with his crush but it happened all the time! Asteroids on a collision course with Venus, on the other hand, didn't! As the lead mechanic, Kiba had responsibilities, for god's sake, which he completely forgot about, or so it seemed.

"I am sorry, Temari." Naruto sighed. "It wasn't your fault. It's just been a hell of a day for me and something was bound to go wrong tonight. Shika," he addressed the tall brunet on the couch. "Do you think we can actually do this without that good for nothing boss of yours? I really-really can't mess this up."

Too many stars needed to align for this night to happen, both literally and figuratively. It was not easy to get both Tokyo and Suna universities to agree to collaborate. Then, it took ages for the grants to be approved. Naruto was still not certain how Temari pulled it off. The Konoha Observatory was a small, but functional one and was used by many Japanese and foreign astronomers throughout the year, so to actually get the time booked with the main telescope here was next to impossible. In addition, the Beast's time was not cheap, so in order to make the most of the grant's funds, they had to find a short window when all of their objects of interest would be visible. Oh, and don't forget that the night had to be moonless and with clear skies.

Miraculously, all of the above happened to lead them to tonight and it was unclear if there would ever be another chance as good. Naruto had two nights to get the readings for a total of 5 asteroids. He would try to use them both to read the same objects just in case there are any discrepancies. However, the forecast for tomorrow was not good and the weather may not allow it. So there really-really was no room for mistakes and he was damn hoping the lead mechanic would be here to support him!

"It is troublesome, but we are good. Even though Kiba is usually the one working with the Beast, I am fully trained. We have 2 minutes till the passing. Let's get ready?"

"Yeah" Naruto breathed out slowly and sat next to Shikamaru behind the controls. "Here goes nothing"

"Once the object is in the zone, we will start the readings and extrapolation of the course. It will only last for 3 minutes. The photos will be taken automatically, it is already programmed in."

Soft clicks of the keys from the keyboards filled the room as both men worked quietly, fully concentrated on their tasks, only exchanging a few words when the object finally came into view. Temari stared excitingly at the big screen that showed the real-time broadcast from the telescope's camera. It didn't provide as clear picture as the photos were going to, but it did bring some sense of reality to what was actually happening. She looked at it in awe—that moving little dot right there, that tiny star-looking dot might just be the one to collide with Venus in a few year's time. It was surreal... She could not stop looking at it until it moved beyond the camera's field of vision.

"That was not nerve wrecking at all!" Naruto exclaimed standing up and smiling but then he brought both arms to his face and let out a shallow breath"Okay, it was—"

"What are you saying? That was awesome!" Temari cried out in pure delight "Thank you for letting me be part of it"

"Oh, it is nothing" Shikamaru answered his expression impassive but light pink dusted his cheeks to Naruto's amusement, who swiftly kicked him under the ribs with an elbow.

"She wasn't talking to you, Shika, don't get all flustered. It was nothing, Temari!" Naruto grinned and gave her a hug "We have four more to go! Now, let's get some coffee while the lazy boy here sets everything up for the next guy. "

* * *

In the meantime, at the Time lab, Neji was entertaining his guest.

"You must tell me one day about this mysterious friend of yours. It is not the first time I am catching you with that smile, you know" the young professor said, giving his visitor a hot mug of coffee that just finished brewing and making himself comfortable on a small couch the lab had. It was always too cold in the basement, as the equipment required it, but the couch and a hot beverage made things bearable.

"It is nothing really." Gaara said with a shrug sitting near the brunet and taking a sip from his mug "I wouldn't even call him a friend. You are a friend; it is hard to explain what he is"

"Oh, a special someone, perhaps?" Neji teased, nudging Gaara with his shoulder playfully.

"No." The redhead said dismissively. "More like a partner in crime. Don't assume weird things"

"Is it so weird for me to assume that you may have a special someone?" The answer Neji got at first was a cool glare, but then the green eyes softened a bit.

"I was told I am not exactly emotionally available" Gaara said quietly, his expression impassive, only a tight grip on the mug was giving away the fact that he was not too happy with their discussion.

"You know," Neji put an arm on his friends shoulder in comfort and continued "the idiots upstairs decided to do a popularity contest among the employees and forced everyone to vote. Their small brains could only be entertained with simple things like this. 'The Konoha's Heartthrobs', they called it—the most ridiculous name, but it is not the point"

"And what is?" Gaara cut in, now clearly annoyed at the topic.

"The point is that your name is the third on that list, and you don't even work here" Neji said taking a sip from his mug.

"I don't understand how this relates to me having a special person" the redhead furrowed his brows in confusion.

"You are young, attractive, and people notice it, Gaara."

"I do not appreciate you calling me 'young', I am only two years younger than you"

"What I am saying is that you should have a special person, someone to make you happy."

"Being with you makes me happy. That's all I need" the redhead countered.

"It warms my heart hearing you say that but you know it is not what I mean. Maybe it is time for you to give a chance to someone"

"Funny hearing it from you" Gaara said quietly and placed the finished mug on a coffee table and faced his friend again "Who did you vote for?"

Caught off guard by the question, the brunet put his own mug down with an embarrassing clutter. That was not something he was ready to talk about. His face gave nothing away, but the way he nervously folded arms on his lap and suddenly found an interest in an ugly painting on the opposite wall spoke volumes. Why did his lab have a painting of clowns? He always hated clowns.

"Neji.." Gaara pressed, studying his friend with interest.

The young professor was suddenly on his feet, putting the mugs away to a cabinet as if it was more important than anything else at the moment. "Well, if I knew that your name was an option, you would have had my vote, obviously" surprisingly his voice didn't come out as shaky as he was afraid it would.

He stood with his back to the redhead and didn't notice how the other approached him, so when a gentle hand touched his shoulder, Neji spun around startled, finding himself face to face with Gaara. He never noticed it before, but his friend was actually slightly taller.

"Do _you_ find me attractive, Neji?" The redhead's voice was low and even as he leaned closer and with a free hand tucked a loose strand of long hair behind the brunet's ear.

With lavender eyes clouded with confusion Neji stared at his friend—this closeness was not something he was used to. He was about to respond that just as he said earlier, Gaara was attractive and certainly better looking than the idiots upstairs, but the door to the lab suddenly opened with a bang.

Jumping a bit in shock at the loud noise—body moving closer to his friend's—he turned towards the entry. He felt Gaara's protective arm finding its way around his waist when a furious brunet stormed inside.

"Sabaku" Kiba spat out the name as if it in itself was an insult.

"Inuzuka" Gaara was not happy to be interrupted but he responded evenly, not letting any emotions show, though tightening his hold on the brunet in his arms.

The lead mechanic suddenly noticed the intimate setting he found the two in and felt a pang of disappointment. "Neji?" He inquired not quite sure how to read the atmosphere.

"It's is professor Hyuuga" Neji said coldly, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing, not noticing the instant hurt in Kiba's dark eyes.

"A-am I interrupting something?" He asked dejectedly, scratching the back of his neck nervously—eyes on the floor. It was painful to see Neji so close to Gaara. All the times the man would come here, he would just talk, maybe insult Kiba one way or another, but never before he saw the two embracing as they did now. Maybe he was already too late...

Neji finally noticed the position they were in and panicked, trying to step away but Gaara's hand kept him in place.

"As a matter of fact..." the redhead let the sentence drag off, drawing an annoyed growl from the brunet in the doorway.

Kiba may have been too late, but it did not mean he was to run away with a tail between his legs. Inizikas were not afraid of a challenge and they sure as hell did not give up.

"You are not supposed to be here." He said firmly clenching his fists, all hurt and uncertainty from before pushed back down in the centre of his stomach—he would deal with it later. "This is a research facility and only employees are allowed" _but somehow you always find a way to sneak in damnit_ he added in his mind.

"I am visiting Neji" he didn't like how the bastard always called Neji by the first name when Kiba was never allowed to.

"Then apply for a visitors pass like all normal people!" He barked out. "Rules are rules and, _Professor Hyuuga_ , I expected more from you and your guests"

Neji did not appreciate Kiba's tone, but acknowledged that they were in the wrong with a nod. When his friend was about to say something back he stopped him with a gentle "That's ok Gaara"

"I'll see you tomorrow?" The redhead asked and then leaned to whisper in his friend's ear "I will tell you all about the person that's been entertaining me lately"

Immediately curios, Neji brightened up—lavender eyes raising to meet the green ones "Absolutely! Get a visitors pass this time?"

"Sure" Gaara gave him a peck in the cheek and let go knowing exactly that it looked more like a kiss in the lips from Kiba's point of view. Heading towards the exit, he stopped right next to the brunet, looked straight into the dark eyes and said so that only he could hear—words void of any emotion " _Time_ is slipping right through your fingers, isn't it?" With that he left the lab.

Kiba's jaw tightened as he watched the redhead go. Damn, he was mad at the truth of his words. All his chances with Neji were slipping away and if he didn't do something soon, he would end up lonely, heartbroken, and with no chance for happiness.

"I never took you for such a sticker to the rules, Inuzuka." His favourite arrogant voice broke the silence in the room. "You could have given him a slack. He is a friend who was just visiting, as he often does. It is not like he actually breaks in and steals stuff or anything"

 _He steals you..._ Kiba just sighed, looking at the back of his crush who was busy tidying up already perfectly stacked papers on the desk."He is evil" he voiced out.

"Don't be absurd" Neji countered, shooting a non threatening glare towards the mechanic. Noticing the time on the wall clock just above the spiky dark hair his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "You're late, again. What was so important that made you late? Was it Uzumaki?"

Kiba's eyes widened as he realized that the passing of the first asteroid was already over. Completely blinded by Gaara's intrusion to Neji's lab, he didn't realize how long he was actually stuck in the elevator for! Naruto was going to eat him alive.

"Bloody hell, that damn elevator!" he exclaimed drawing hands through his hair in frustration "Why can't this thing just work properly?!"

"You're even starting to sound like him" Neji snorted, nose scrunched up in annoyance. The blond astronomer has been occupying too much of Kiba's time lately and he didn't like it in the least. He knew they were friends outside of work too and it was pissing him off even more. Damnit, he should have another talk with Naruto.

"I don't sound like him!" Kiba opposed at first but then frowned noting the similarity. "Ok, maybe. But you would too, if you were stuck in the demonic device for as long as I did! Anyways, is the Time Machine acting up or what did you need my help with?"

"You do know that it is not really a time machine, right?" the young professor's voice carried a hint of amusement in it—leave it to Kiba to give names to all equipment in the building.

"It measures _time_ in this _Time lab_ —you named it, not me—so the Time Machine it is" the mechanic said matter-of-factly and then his face split in a warm, friendly grin, dark eyes lighting up with it making Neji's heart swell. That smile was what originally attracted him to the brunet – it was so open and warm, it might as well melt all the ice in the Arctic. Oh, how he wished he was the only one on the receiving end of that smile.. "Plus when we add the leap second every year, it is like we travel to the future!" Kiba continued, not realizing the thoughts running through Neji's head, who just huffed out an amused breath.

"Ok, I give up" he said, lips twitched fighting a smile, "You do make a sound argument. Then, we need to prepare our _Time Machine_ for the next _leap into the future_ " It was alright to go with the flow once in a while, especially if it was to keep his favourite mechanic smiling a bit longer.

"There you go, Neji! I knew you would come to like it!"

Hearing his name coming from Kiba's mouth made Neji tense instantly—the easygoing atmosphere they finally managed to create broken. He did not like Kiba saying his name like that. Like they were _close_ , like they were _friends_.

"It's Professor Hyuuga" Neji said evenly though the voice sounded tired from trying to keep his emotions in control. "Or professor, or just Hyuuga, for gods sake"

Inuzuka felt his heart seize for a moment from the sudden change in the mood "Why? Why can't I call you Neji?" Why was it such a big deal?

_We're not close..._

"Because we are not friends" was the cold answer.

Anger rushed through Kiba followed by confusion "Why aren't we?" he growled at the scientist who blatantly avoided his gaze letting out an annoyed breath.

_You're not a friend..._

"I don't want to!" Neji cried out, turning sharply to look at the stunned brunet, his cold pale eyes locked with the widening dark ones.

Kiba turned around and stormed towards the door, dull pain ached in the lower pit of his stomach. He paused before exiting and said without looking back "I'll send Shikamaru to assist you further, _Professor Hyuuga_ "

It hurt...

* * *

Once Naruto was out of the car that drove him home and on the way to the building, he let out a slow breath and saw the steam dissolve in front of him. All in all, it was a good night at the lab—not without a few hiccups here and there, but nothing too catastrophic.

After he and Temari came back to the lab with their coffees, Shikamaru had the photos of the first asteroid ready. The object was of irregular shape, which is very common, resembling a peanut in a shell and was about 2km long as they estimated before. It was the second largest of the five and looked rather impressive, Temari could not believe that was the same star-looking dot that she saw on the screen earlier.

The second asteroid seemed to be the smallest among their chosen ones, only about 200 meters in diameter in its widest part; it was somewhat pear-shaped. It was dullest too, so the photos didn't turn out as good as they hoped, but it was an indicator that it most likely belonged to a group of carbonaceous objects (i.e. in addition to rocks and minerals, it contained large amounts of carbon which absorbed light).

Right after they reviewed the photos of the second object, Kiba showed up looking all gloomy and depressed. Something really pissed off that guy as to Naruto's _'you're okay?'_ he just grumbled _'fucking brilliant'_ and took Shika's place behind the controls. The genius filled his boss in on the details about the first two asteroids and explained what remained to be done for the next one. Kiba listened and thanked the man for making sure everything went well and then sent him to the Time Lab to help Professor Hyuuga for the remainder of the night.

To say that Naruto was surprised would have been an understatement. Kiba never called Neji a professor, especially when the man was not even in the room, and Shika hasn't been to the Time Lab for months! Because the lead mechanic always made it top priority to spend more time there, with his crush. Something really bad must have happened.

Despite the foul mood in the lab after Shika left, Naruto and Kiba fell into comfortable routine. It seemed that occupying his mind and hands with work helped his friend a little.

The highlight of the night was the object number five. Quite literally as it was the brightest one—almost too bright—indicating the high levels of metal in its core. The photos turned out to be fantastic showing the reflective surface in all its glory, even several craters were visible. Kiba noticed that the asteroid was also moving faster than initially predicted, perhaps it received some acceleration after coming too close to Mars or some larger asteroids that cross its orbit. They would need to do proper calculations to know for sure.

The young astronomer couldn't believe how lucky they were to get a full night of clear skies in the worst season possible and just after a snowstorm. But they did it – they have managed to get the readings of all five asteroids in one night, and even if tomorrow all hell broke loose, he's got enough data to work with for the next few months.

By the time Naruto made it to the elevator, every part of his body was numb with exhaustion and demanded the comfort of his soft pillows. It was a Saturday and he looked forward to a few extra hours of sleep. Especially after the hell of a day he had before followed by restless sleep. Oh no, why the hell did he think about that now?... It was such a good night with no thoughts about the teme and he ruined it! He theatrically banged his head on a wall in despair.

When the elevator arrived, refreshing the memory of the dream, he groaned and walked in, thanking the lord that it was bastard-less. Though what did he expect at 5 in the morning? Wait—expect? What exactly did he expect?—

The elevator stopped and opened the doors not to his floor (again) but to something else completely. Tired and with mind occupied by thoughts of a certain teme, Naruto didn't realize that the elevator was actually going down and not up, not until it stopped at the concourse level where the gym was located. Well, where it was supposed to be located, what he was seeing now was not a gym, it was something he has not seen before.

He walked out of the elevator in awe and plastered himself to the large glass window not believing his eyes. Right before him was a pool, not the pathetic pool-wanna-be-puddle he saw here three years ago when moving in, but an incredible Olympic-size swimming pool. It had ten lanes, starting blocks and all that shit he saw while watching Summer Olympic Games with Iruka and Kakashi couple of years back. So this was the recent 'renovation project' that the building manager talked about. Completely mesmerized and still not quite believing the whole thing he moved through the glass doors to get a closer look.

It was very nice inside – warm and humid, but pleasant, Naruto decided taking off his scarf. He walked past the entry to the gym, it was actually there too, hiding to the left of the main attraction. Change rooms and showers were conveniently located on the side, he noted for future reference—he was definitely coming back here. When he moved closer to the pool, he heard music playing from a few speakers in the ceiling filling the huge open space with soft sounds.

A splash from the other side of the pool attracted his attention—it seems like someone was already enjoying the freshness of water. It must be nice to swim here in solitude when the rest of the building still slept, Naruto thought, he should probably make a habit of it. Curious, he tried to catch a glimpse of whoever that was. It was hard though, at first, as the person started all the way from the other side—too far away—but they swam closer and closer with an impeccable speed and soon the blond could see strong long hands helping their owner move swiftly with powerful strokes.

 _The butterfly_ , Naruto thought, standing completely stunned right on the line so that the person was now swimming towards him. It was the most difficult of all swimming strokes, as he remembered from watching the games with his dads. _Wow, did the folks on TV swim that fast?.._. The man, he could clearly see it now, glided through the water with fluent ease as if he was born in it—arms exiting the water in perfect unison, hovering above the surface and hiding underneath it again and again, wave-like body movements smooth and efficient and.. "Beautiful" he breathed out, feeling his chest tightening for a moment in honest fascination.

Naruto was so hypnotized by the rhythmic strokes that didn't notice how the person reached his end of the pool. Only when the man got out of the water and bent down to put goggles on a starting block, did he realize it.

They were standing just few meters apart and the young astronomer, unable to tear his gaze away from the body that was exposed to his widening eyes, slowly took in the sight: strong lean legs in black knee-long speedos that contrasted with pale skin, taut abs covered in shiny droplets of water, broad chest rising and falling from heavy breathing caused by the extreme exercise— The man took off his cap, letting dark hair fall freely framing his face, thin lips curved into a condescending smirk, and then Naruto saw— _and felt_ —as the arrogant dark eyes lifted themselves to stare at him, acknowledging his presence.

_Of bloody course._

The swimmer was none other than Sasuke-the-teme Uchiha and the blond could only roll his eyes. Just what exactly did he do to piss off the Universe so much?

"If the memory serves me right, the last time we met you were set on forgetting all about me." Sasuke said, fiddling with his sport watch and asked nonchalantly "How is it going so far?"

"Not as well as I was hoping for..." Naruto answered honestly "...with you popping in wherever I go."

"I was here first, which means you followed me. As you don't even have the decency to hide or blend in, it officially makes you the worst stalker ever" He said, drawing both hands through his wet hair, and Naruto felt his cheeks starting to darken "You are not supposed to be walking in here in the outdoor footwear"

Embarrassed and _ashamed_ and not just for walking into the pool area in his dirty winter boots, the blond flushed and mumbled something about being curious, but then shook his head of all uncertainty and growled back at the brunet "How many times do I have to tell you that I am not a stalker?!"

"Yet, here you are" The man pointedly looked at Naruto, folding arms at his chest "How many times have I met you in the last 24 hours? One time could have been by pure chance; the second – a coincidence, maybe; the third – already suspicious; now fourth?—" he let the sentence drag off thrusting his chin up in challenge and sneering at the astronomer "you tell me"

"Elevators!" Naruto exclaimed like it was the most obvious answer. Met with a curious brow and a doubtful snort, he continued with the theory "They conspired against humanity and do everything in their power to inconvenience people! All four times we met were because of them! First at work, remember how slow they were? Then Kakashi got stuck in one and I was forced to service your table, which I never do. Then both times here – they just miss the floor I need to go to. Every time! Those damn eleva—, damn ele—" _Damn teme!_ He added mentally. He still couldn't finish the phrase properly without feeling the guy's lips brushing over his. _Urgh_.. Having the bastard—the practically naked _and_ head-to-toes wet bastard—right in front of him did not help either. He was flustered, couldn't stop rambling and why was it suddenly so hot in here?

"Elevators? Quite a conspiracy theory you have here. Still not convincing, though. Any other theories, stalker?"

Naruto needed to think fast. He was still convinced that the elevators were at fault, but if he were to come up with something else good enough to get the teme off his back, he would consider it a win. There must be something hard to argue with... Something like—

"Fate! Ha!" It was genius and he almost did a happy dance right there. _In your face, bastard_ "Have you thought about that?"

"Oh, I am not a big believer in fate, but this got me curious" The brunet said thoughtfully "so what does fate have planned for us?"

"I don't know! But it's a valid theory, right? The one you can't deny!" The blond hasn't thought this far ahead, it's not like he needed it.. The elevator theory was so much better, it explained everything! Suddenly, a string of panic started to grow in the pit of his stomach "Why are you coming closer?"

"Testing your theory, of course" Sasuke's predatory smirk made Naruto glare and shiver at the same time. "If this is fate's doing, then it would want us to be closer, don't you think?"

"Urgh, you don't have to test anything!" He needed to get out of here, fast. This was not going according to plan... The bastard was supposed to accept the theory and give up. That's it. "We don't really need to know why we are meeting like that. I am sure there is a reasonable explanation behind it! I am just going to leave and let you swim here in peace, deal?"

"No." Was a curt reply. "That would be equal to a stalker fleeting the scene of his crime and I will have to report it"

"What?! You can't so that! I am not stalking!"

"Then stay where you are" Despite the urge to strangle the man, Naruto couldn't ignore the slight warmth that started to build at the intense stare he received.

"Ok, but don't come too close" Naruto nervously shoved hands into his jean pockets, forgetting that he still had his scarf in one hand making the whole process look ridiculous.

"Why?"

He wasn't sure what would happen, but what he was sure of was that he didn't want to know.. Naruto was not looking at the man but heard the steps approaching. "You will get me wet" even he knew it was a week argument.

"How else are we going to test your theory?" His breathing slowed with every step and every word said in that deep vibrating voice.

"I don't know!" Naruto had to shut his eyes tight, because they kept wanting to look at that porcelain white skin to memorize every inch of it. It was definitely his eyes only, not him.

"Scared, dobe?" The man chuckled. How dared he!

"I am not scared, teme!" The astronomer cried in outrage pointing his finger at the bastard.

"Prove it" Sasuke said and his lips curved in another predatory smirk that had Naruto's insides flip again.

"Argh!" The blond threw his arms up in frustration and took a few confident steps towards the brunet. At the last step the astronomer's eyes widened and he gave out a small cry of surprise as he lost his footing on a slippery surface, his right foot got thrown up in the air and he landed heavily on the ground, tripping the annoying man in the process causing him to fall forwards with a loud grunt right on top. Pain shot through Naruto's elbows and he growled at the heavy weight on top of him. "Get off!"

Trying to push the guy off of him, he suddenly became too aware of the heat of Sasuke's bare chest beneath his fingertips, hips pressed onto his jeans, and warm breath too close to his suddenly sensitive ear—what the hell? He gasped for the much needed air while discovering, and immediately trying to rid of, the sparks that ignited in his stomach, face flushed in embarrassment.

The brunet raised on his forearms enough to look straight down at Naruto, who felt his heart stop for a moment as dark eyes stared right through him and into his soul. _July_. They were like the sky in July, when nights are the darkest and stars – the brightest. "Fate, Hn?"

For the sake of his irregularly beating heart and the now unnatural colour of his cheeks he needed to get the hell out of there. "What's with you and this sound? It's not even a word!" Eyes shut tightly, he struggled some more but instantly froze and then shivered, feeling slightly damp hands trailing up an invisible line to his face, where they cupped his cheeks, thumbs brushing back and forth at the corners of his still closed eyes.

"Don't do that," Sasuke's deep voice was almost at a whisper "don't take them away"

Naruto opened his eyes to look at the man above him questioningly and felt the air around them become even more humid. "What?"

"The oceans. Don't hide them." The voice was soft with the usual arrogance absent from both the tone and expression.

"What do you mean?" Yeah, what did he mean? He talked about the ocean back in the elevator too.

"How can they be so blue, so deep?" Sasuke continued, not really responding to Naruto but simply voicing out his thoughts, thumbs still brushing over at the corners of blue eyes "I just want to dive in"

"you aren't really—" _doing what I think you are doing._ The astronomer's suddenly dry throat refused to let the last part of the sentence out.

"oh yes, I am—" the man breathed out the answer and leaned closer, the rest of the world dulled out, leaving the two of them in their own universe.

It felt right...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! Kiba here needs some comforting, Naruto – assurances that he can run away from fate, Neji... not sure what, but he definitely needs something... I think Gaara and Sasuke are the only ones who got everything covered, maybe. lol, feel free to leave something for them too! I will continue uploading chapters a bit later.


	7. Fights and drinking nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Naruto and Kiba struggle to cope with recent developments in their love lives and those damn elevators are not helping, or are they?

Miserable.

And angry.

That's how the weather seemed outside when Kiba stopped to look at it through one of the windows in the control room. He stood there with both hands in the pockets of his jeans and watched as snow blew in horizontal blur making the scenery impossible to recognize. He couldn't see the parking lot that was just to the side of the building as the red lamps [1] were not powerful enough to light it. The fields that he knew were just outside the premises were now one with the sky and not in a pretty way.

Miserable.

And _angry_.

This is how Kiba felt inside after the blow he received from Neji just yesterday. Sure they weren't friends now: they didn't hang out after work, didn't share their personal stuff, their lives outside the observatory almost never crossed. It took Kiba over a month just to have a civil work related conversation after the Christmas soirée fiasco, so chances for him winning Neji's heart were next to nothing. That was especially true with the evil-raccoon-bastard-of-a-demon-Gaara in the picture who was everything he wasn't: super rich heir to one of the most prominent families in Japan, not long since graduation and already made a name for himself as a successful lawyer, childhood friend, always so freaking attentive... One thing was to see them both together talking like they normally did, it was different to see them being so intimate yesterday. He squeezed eyes tight fighting off the scene that flashed in his memory and noticed again the dull pain at the pit of his stomach.

Since when did the nature of their relationship change? How could Kiba miss that? And again, hearing Neji say that even friendship was not possible between them hurt like hell. Was his existence that insignificant? He would be damned if it wasn't infuriating.

Kiba shook his head, chasing away the dark thoughts that seemed to only increase with the sound of raving storm outside. He couldn't deal with it now, he was at work for damn sake. Which was a problem of its own, he wasn't supposed to be here, no one was supposed to be here...It was a nasty night, with nasty weather and most importantly—

"NO STARS!" The brunet lashed out turning swiftly away from the window towards his colleagues inside. "Care to explain what in the bloody hell are we doing here?!"

He was right. The weather made it impossible to even open the hood of the telescope, the gears were snowed in and frozen so tight. Still, his idiot of a friend—if he could still be called that—insisted they all get to the lab. Just in case.

Let's translate that: he forced everyone to get their butts out of their warm comfy homes into the freaking _blizzard_ at night and risk driving off a cliff or in a ditch from the icy _unlit_ country road that led to the observatory, _dying_ along the way either from crash or freezing cold.

 _Just. in. case_.

Insane!

The worst part: the good for nothing blondie hasn't uttered a single sound. He was already in the control room when Kiba arrived two hours ago, didn't say a word of welcome, didn't react even when Temari came.

"Well, I am looking at the weather satellite images and it does seem like it will clear up—" the blonde physicist tried to soothe the atmosphere in the room, but— "by 3am" she added dejectedly.

"Three of the five asteroids will be gone by then!" Kiba fumed "We agreed that if it was a storm night, we just let it go. We covered everything that was needed yesterday anyways. What exactly were you thinking Naruto?"

Temari looked at the blond that was slouching over papers and scribbling something frantically, completely oblivious to the murderous intent in the eyes of the heavily breathing brunet. She wrapped her hand around Kiba's and tried to nudge him as far away from the silent astronomer as possible. He didn't budge and instead with another arm threateningly close to the blond's neck giggled maniacally. At that Temari had to forcefully drag him away and towards the couch.

"We are here, Kiba, so let's just wait out the storm and go home. While we are at it, might as well catch up on other things." She said trying to quickly think of a safe topic to calm the raving beast inside the lead mechanic. "How is your family doing? It's been a while since you talked about them"

Instantly, Kiba's dark eyes brightened up and he started talking nonstop, allowing the nervous blonde release a sigh. Kiba's family was everything to him and there was nothing that could elevate his mood better than talking about them. The mechanic smiled and quickly took his phone out to show most recent pictures: there were his sisters Hana and Kiko playing with Akamaru in the snow, whole family at a dinner they had last weekend with cousins that decided to simply drop by, his usually grumpy dad grinning widely at the sight of the steak they had then, oh and of course, there was his mom with super cute puppies at the animal shelter and clinic she and Hana managed. Temari sighed in relief again, thanking the gods that Kiba was so easy to distract.

"By the way, thank you so much for the donation you sent to our clinic!" the mechanic said suddenly.

"Donation?" Temari asked confused. She didn't remember anything of the sort.

"Yeah! Last month my sister received a nice and shiny cheque with a bunch of zeroes. She didn't want to show me, for some reason, but you know, I have my ways" he grinned happily "mom had this falling out with the landlord, had to search for a new place and this donation really helped them to settle in a nice new spot. So, thanks"

"Why do you think it was from me? It could be anyone"

"It had Sabaku name on it, duh. Who else from your family would do that?" He said and started showing pictures of the new location of their clinic, missing a rather lost expression from his colleague's face. The only other Sabaku who knew about Kiba and his family's dog shelter was Gaara, no one else. What was he up to? "Though I am super grateful, I'm just curious why you did it? It wasn't a small amount"

"I don't know... it's just—" Temari was going to press her precious baby brother for explanation later but for now she needed to find the right words to get out of this situation. "Um..It felt right" she said to Kiba and the sudden sound of screening chair, papers and pens fluttering to the floor made them both jump in the air.

"Like hell it did!" Naruto shouted and then immediately brought a hand to his mouth to silence it, as if realizing where exactly he was. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to shout..." he mumbled and walked out of the room leaving the two completely dumbfounded.

"Whah—? What just happened?" Temari asked and Kiba only shrugged his shoulders in response.

* * *

Naruto stood in the washroom breathing heavily, face flushed and wet from vigorous splashing with cold water.

 _It felt right_...

As soon as the words reached his ears, he was taken back to the moment that exact thought appeared in his mind: when he was trapped underneath Uchiha's firm, bare body, and when the world around them became almost nonexistent. He remembered the slow jazz music coming off the speakers in the pool, the gentle warmth in the dark eyes that held him captive as the man's face came closer and closer to his, the smell of salted bergamot—then mixed with chlorine—overwhelming his senses as he took a shallow breath in anticipation of what was coming next. Naruto felt as if his whole being was going to be captured the moment their lips meet, and—

 _It felt right_...

Naruto squeezed his eyes tight and shook his head hard, trying to rid of the nauseating thought. Was he out of his damn mind? There was nothing right about being trapped underneath a total stranger! Thank heavens, right before their lips touched, a group of teenagers stumbled into the gym loudly and diverted their attention from— whatever the hell that was. It gave him a chance to come to his senses, push the brunet off of him and hurry off to the side. Then, faster than light, the blond was on his feet and on the way to the elevator. He didn't turn to look at the other through the window, even though he felt the eyes on his back so vividly.

He run away.

Because it shouldn't, it couldn't, it _didn't_ feel right.

The demonic device brought him to the wrong floor again and he cursed and kicked and shouted ' _Damn Elevator!_ ' in frustration, most likely waking up a few neighbours along the way. As soon as he was in the safety of his home, Naruto vaguely remembered collapsing on the bed and falling asleep immediately, not even bothering to undress or get under the covers. He was drained: physically, from the long night of working at the lab, and emotionally, from whatever was happening between him and the Uchiha. It was just too much.

Naruto fell asleep, alright...but the dreams he saw made him wish he didn't. Once again, they were filled with the certain dark-haired bastard and left him hot and bothered by morning. Staying at home knowing that the cause of these dreams was somewhere in the same building, made him uncomfortable and he decided to go to the lab and spend the day there, fully absorbed in work. That somewhat helped, but then Temari went and said that... _thing_...reminding him...

"Dammit" Naruto cursed quietly looking at his reflection in the mirror. It was time to stop denying the strong attraction he felt to the stranger. No matter how wrong or disturbing, it was something he never felt before. He was certain now that the feeling he got of something changing in his life was related to the bastard.

Honestly, Naruto knew this even before he first looked the brunet in the eyes. And it scared him. The eyes of the colour of cold cosmos made him wish to run away to the furthest parts of the Universe, but the man's burning heat was like that of the Sun's and made him want to stay close and never let go... This conflicting feeling was making his head ache.

"Shit" he cursed again. Out of all people in the entire world, why did it have to be him? Not only was he a stranger and a total asshole, but also a crazy rich, hot-shot businessman and well known public figure. Even if both of them wanted to get to know each other better, not that they did, what could possibly come out of it? The entire thing was stupid to even think of.

Naruto splashed his face with cold water again and walked out of the washroom. There was no more running away: the pull he felt towards Sasuke was no longer something he could brush off, he admitted. Now, he just needed to figure out what to do with it. And for that, he needed his best friend. He needed Kiba.

When the young astronomer was walking back to the control room, he heard a heated argument coming from the kitchen.

"You don't know what you're yapping about, Suigetsu!" A fiery redhead pointed an accusing finger at a white haired young man, sill holding a milk frothier in that same hand and consequently spraying tiny drops of milk all over the kitchen.

"All I am saying, Karin," the guy looked unaffected but still took a small step back from the dangerous object pointed at him "is that if you're making an espresso, have guts to drink it as an espresso! Don't dilute it in milk, foam, and sugary syrups! It doesn't even taste like coffee"

"It's called a latte!" the girl exclaimed, expressively turning away and returning back to her main task at hand, which was frothing the milk in a tall cup.

"It's called a crap! And tastes like one, too!"

"It tastes like heaven, stupid!" She countered, dumping the frothier in the kitchen sink with a little more force than necessary, then pouring milk in the mug with coffee and generously covering it with a thick layer of caramel sauce.

"Oh, and you would know how heaven tastes like—"

"As someone who studies atmosphere for a living, I might as well"

"Only you two idiots would argue about coffee" Kiba said coming from behind Naruto, who just stood there laughing at the bickering couple.

Karin was working on her PhD in planetary physics, same area of science that Temari was from but within UofT. Her field became very popular in the last few years, and with all the competition around she was spending most of her nights and days in the lab working on her research, not wasting any time on other things. Like _life_ , for example.

Suigetsu was one of Kiba's crew members assigned to assist her when needed, but with personalities so far apart, the two were arguing constantly. Very much for the amusement of others. Hearing these two sure raised Uzumaki's spirits a bit. At least something was still right with the world.

"Man, you ok?" The brunet asked him "You really surprised us back there. I am still angry at you though, for making me drive here"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I honestly thought it would clear up sooner." Naruto apologized sincerely, then noticed something behind his friend's back "What the hell is that?!" He shouted and brought everyone's attention to a piece of paper taped to the fridge, which happened to be the results of the The Konoha's Heartthrobs contest. "Why is this guy's name here?!"

"Whose?" Karin asked, happily sipping her sugar and foam overloaded latte, while Suigetsu looked at the mug in her hands with disgust.

"The second!"

"Oh, Sasuke-kun!" The girl squealed in delight. "How could his name not be there? Not only he is tall, dark and super handsome, he is also a successful businessman, most desired bachelor in Japan, philanthropist, and past Olympian gold medalist in freestyle swimming! Oh my gosh, you should have seen those abs he is hiding underneath the tailored business suits he wears. He is just so dreamy!"

Naruto instantly blushed at the mention of muscles beneath the suit and thought of how the man looked just after the swim..mm.. Gold medalist? Freestyle swimming? Well, that explained a thing or two, but not why exactly his name was on the list "It still doesn't make sense!"

"You are right! He should have been the first!" Naruto could swear Karin's eyes went heart shaped, when she clasped his hands and giggled. "But well, after Hidan went and blurted out in front of his psychotic partner that we are doing the contest, everybody knew that Deidara had to be the first. Do you know how scary a lunatic with an access to a chemistry lab can be? Last Christmas, he mixed a cocktail for Suigetsu that made his irises go purple!"

"Sabaku?! Why is _that_ evil bastard's name here?!" Kiba looked at the piece of paper in disbelief. He didn't care about the Uchiha, nor about Dei, who indeed was scary as shit but whose explosive personality was kind of expected of someone working on the next generation rocket fuel with JAXA [2]. What Kiba did care about was just how many hearts in the lab throbbed enough for the raccoon-eyed jerk to get the third place.

"What's wrong with that?" The icy aristocratic voice suddenly pierced the air as Neji walked into the kitchen. He calmly went towards the fridge where the crowd stood, took out a packet of orange juice and poured himself a glass. "Gaara is just as famous and good looking as the Uchiha, and contrary to the first, actually shows his face here once in a while when he visits me."

There it was again... Neji taking Sabaku's side, as always.

"He is very friendly towards both employees and scientists—ask Hidan. Oh and don't deny the fact that you ordered him to not let Gaara through the gates. Why is it that you have this hostility towards him?"

"What's the point of this contest if the top three people don't even work here?" Choosing to ignore the question, the lead mechanic ripped the paper off the fridge and threw it in the garbage bin with a quiet "This is stupid" He then headed out of the kitchen, there was no way he would be able to stay calm with Neji there. His heart was not prepared to deal with it now. Forget the coffee that he initially came here for...

"Inuzuka" the young professor called out and Kiba turned to look at him. What could he possibly say? Apologize? Ask to be friends? "I asked you a question" Ah, that—

"This question, _Professor Hyuuga_ ," the dark eyes hardened, as did the tone "has no relation to my job as the lead mechanic and thus I am not obligated to respond. Should you need any help at your lab, I will assign someone to the task. It is an important night for Uzumaki's research and I will be busy with that. Naruto?" He finished, inviting the blond astronomer to leave the room with him.

"Wow, and I thought Neji was the ice queen here" Naruto whispered with a low whistle, once they got into the hallway.

"Shut up"

When they both returned to the control room, they found Temari hurriedly packing her things.

"Umm, hey Temari. Sorry about before—" Naruto said timidly "Did something happen?"

"Yes!" She interrupted her packing to look at them both with a grin that could rival Naruto's at the sight of a huge bowl of ramen. "I just received a confirmation that an explosion over Russia that was registered earlier today was actually a meteorite!"

"What?!"

"This is so great! They are sending me samples of the meteorite, air after the explosion, and snow with meteorite dust, for further analysis, we can actually get some understanding on how our atmosphere was affected. I need to be in Suna by morning!" she sounded so excited that all of her four ponytails actually bounced with every word. "And Naruto," Temari continued while packing last of her things "The explosion happened in daytime." She smiled at how surprised Naruto looked at the words. "Yeah, this must be related to the asteroid that you warned them about and if true, this could mean a lot for your research on PHAs [3, your algorithm of locating these small objects is actually working"

"Wow, man" Kiba affectionately patted his shocked friend on the back. "Temari, do you need me to drive you? Is it still nasty out there? Do the planes actually fly in this weather?"

"That's ok," she smiled. "It doesn't look so bad now and Shikamaru kindly offered me a ride to the airport."

"I am sure he did—"

Temari hugged them both and left barely containing a hop in her step. There was an actual meteorite waiting for her in Suna!

Naruto on the other hand had to sit down: the news still needed to sink in. A few months ago, the method he developed identified a few asteroids which orbits crossed that of Earth at potentially dangerous distances and rather soon. These asteroids were small, no more than 70-100 meters in diameter, so generally very hard to detect. What made them even harder to see was the orbit: most of it was between Earth and Venus, meaning that they needed to be observed during the day (which is virtually impossible), and the danger would have come from the same part of the sky where the sun was. When he presented the findings and warned about previously undetected PHAs, his peers laughed. Because no one could see them...They kept telling him that because they can't be seen, they don't exist, that his calculations are not right... And even if they were out there, their size meant that most of the mass would burn in the atmosphere, yes, resulting in an explosion, but nothing that could reach the surface and do any harm. But this—

"Kiba" the blond drew both hands through his hair in frustration as the brunet joined him on the couch "They said in the news that more than 7,000 buildings were damaged and about a thousand people injured" if only he tried harder to prove that his calculations were correct...maybe there was something—

"There was nothing you could do. Those pricks decided for themselves what to believe and what not, and now they know better"

"I just don't know what to do" Naruto sighed. "I am happy that I was right, but angry at just how exactly we got to know it"

"There is only one thing to do: get drunk"

" _That's_ your answer?"

"What? We will celebrate, be sad, beat the shit out of some elevator, then celebrate some more. Plus with all that's been on my mind, I could certainly use a drink" the brunet scratched behind his ear and stood up from the couch with a grunt. "You coming?"

"I am always up for beating the shit out of some elevator!"

"Good. Let's start with the one that leads to the basement.." Kiba added, to which Naruto just laughed.

* * *

It was late on a Saturday night and when they got to the bar, which was located on campus of the UofT, they were greeted by loud music and an even louder _wall_ of drunken people: students, alumni, professors, with waiters in between. It was impossible to tell who was who in this mess but they all seemed to enjoy each other's company and were simply spending a night out drinking and having fun. Everyone deserved a little break once in a while and the bar was there to assist.

Naruto navigated through the crowd to a tall table that was just vacated by two laughing girls that decided to join another group of students at a different table. Perfect timing. Kiba hanged his jacket on a stool and went straight to the bar for the first round of drinks.

"This one is on me!" The brunet shouted through the surrounding noise upon return, placing the drinks on the table and taking a seat across the blond. Each took a shot, gulped it down and laughed. Finally, things started to look up.

Some time and a few shots and bottles of beers after, the bar became slightly less crowded and the music changed making it actually possible to have a conversation, so Naruto decided to approach the subject that made his friend act weirdly since yesterday.

"So, what's up with you and Neji?" He asked munching on a deep fried piece of something that a waiter placed on their table. It was hard to keep up with what Kiba ordered but everything tasted nice.

"Dunno, really" was a lifeless response. Naruto watched as his friend fiddled with an empty bottle then pushed it aside and laughed bitterly "I thought, we had a nice thing going. He actually laughed at my jokes, can you believe it? But then.." Kiba's shoulders dropped and a long sigh escaped him "I don't know man, I still don't get it. Every time I call him by his first name something happens. Like a switch," he snapped his fingers to highlight the point "he becomes all distant and all—"

" _It's Professor Hyuuga to you_ " Uzumaki mimicked Neji's tone which drew another bitter laugh out of his friend.

"Yeah, that. But this time he went further, he basically said we aren't ever gonna be friends"

"Do you want to?"

"Want what?"

"Be friends. Is this really what you want?"

"You know damn well what I want, man!" Inuzuka put both hands over his face and groaned "But this ain't gonna happen, so I wanted to at least be that"

"You're a moron" Naruto took the last sip of his beer and pushed the bottle aside "You tiptoed around the guy for a _year_ , trying to show yourself as a nice and helpful colleague, all the while the other guy was sabotaging your efforts with cheap tricks. Now you're being told that a colleague is all you ever gonna be and you just sit there, do nothing? Shouldn't this be your cue to just confess already? It's not like you got anything to lose anymore!"

"What if I make things worse?"

"There _is_ no worse! How can you be so slow? You're like a damn ele– ele— shit! You know what I mean!"

"About that" the brunet tilted his head in suspicion "what's up with you and elevators? It's not the first time you did that"

Embarrassed, the blond looked away to hide his face that flushed instantly. "Umm" Naruto sat there for a full minute contemplating weather or not Kiba really needed to hear his story when he obviously had his own drama going. Deciding that there was no way he could sort out his feelings without help he started "I am—" was there an easy way to put it into words? "Shit" there wasn't, so— "IfeelanotherguyslipsonmineeachtimeItrytosayit!", he blurted out in one go, burying his face into folded hands on the table and groaned in frustration and embarrassment, and could his face get any more flushed?

"What?" No human could possibly understand what he just blurted out.

"...I feel another guy's lips on mine each time I try to say it..." the blond repeated slower, still not looking at his friend. When no response came, he looked up and saw Kiba furiously typing something on the phone.

"What are you doing?" Uzumaki asked furrowing his brows in disapproval. He was flat out admitting to the worst thing ever and what was his so called friend doing at a time like this?!

"Texting Kakashi"

"You what?!"

"He'll be so pumped to know that you're finally showing interest in another living person!" Kiba chuckled gleefully but then paused and looked back at Naruto "He is a living person, right? Not an alien from one of your precious asteroids, is it?"

"Give me that!" The blond tried to get the phone out of the brunet's hand but failed when the other leaned back on his stool just enough to be out of reach.

"Nope. Sent"

Naruto sat back, crossed both hands over his chest and looked away pouting "I wanted to ask for your advice, but you're behaving like a pig!"

"Oh, come on man" Kiba let out another chuckle "He ugly?"

"If he was, I would't be having this problem" the blond mumbled under his breath unhappily.

"Cheating type?"

"I don't know! I only met the guy yesterday!"

"So what? He killed anyone?"

"Where did that come from? And what do you mean 'so what', isn't it important to get to know someone first?" He was already regretting starting this conversation.

"Not at all. Married, kids?"

"Karin called him 'the most desired bachelor of Japan', so I guess not"

"Then you'll be fine! Kakashi is gonna be so happy!" Kiba let out another snort and fought the urge to look at his phone that chimed, indicating that Kakashi just read his text.

"You're useless"

"Wait. The most desired—?" The mechanic inquired suddenly "are you talking about the Uchiha? Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Yes"

"And you say, you met him yesterday?"

"Yes" was a short reply that got the brunet in another fit of laugher.

"Dude. You danced with him last Christmas!"

"What?!" Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. This good for nothing dog-lover was loosing his mind. There was no such thing.

"For like the whole night, until Kakashi had to take you home because you snored and drooled all over the guy's designer suit." His friend continued "And he sponsors your research, by the way. Personally."

What Kiba was saying didn't make sense. Sasuke Uchiha was a man that he met for the first time yesterday morning and who acted like a jerk to him since then.

"I don't get it! Who asked him to do that?! I don't know the guy!" Like a damn meteorite, he appeared out of nowhere, barged into his quiet world uninvited and contaminated it with foreign emotions! "Damnit, I don't need this. I don't need him messing with my life!" Naruto frowned but then his eyes went wide as another infuriating thought appeared in his mind "Now I fucking know who the stalker is. Damn teme!"

Seeing the hurricane of emotions going through his friend, Kiba needed to intervene before the idiot thought of something dangerous. Having an Uchiha blood on his conscience was not something he signed up for.

"Man, chill the fuck out. I am sure the Uchiha had his reasons"

"You don't get it Kiba! He called me a stalker, when he was the one doing the stalking! And he tried to kiss me!" How, why, and when exactly did he get himself into this whole pale-skinned-night-sky-eyed bastard-related mess?

The blond stormed off to get another round of drinks as he was still far from being drunk enough to either forget about the teme or come up with a plan to deal with him. He also needed another plan to help his friend to win the cold heart of that good for nothing genius. Who in their right mind would not want Kiba as a friend? He was kind, funny, and loyal as a dog, had a terrible taste in music and movies, a little too obsessed with baseball, but still fun to be around. Maybe Kiba got too insistent on occupying all of Neji's time, but he wasn't the only one. The professor also did all in his power to monopolize the lead mechanic's time, even other scientist complained about it. Though never to his face, ever, he was too scary to deal with. Remember what he said to Naruto yesterday? Truly frightening.

It was after two more shots of tequila that an idea formed inside his rather cloudy brain.

"Lesshttate!" Naruto blurted out, expression changing to that of confusion as the words reached his ears, all slurred into something unrecognizable. All the alcohol must be kicking in. "I..'m..tdrunk!" He said grinning, clearly happy with an accomplished goal.

"That you are" Kiba acknowledged nodding, feeling pleasantly woozy but still able to form coherent sentences. He was notorious for drinking others under the table. "What did you say?"

"Let'sh date!" Choosing to ignore the nonsense, the brunet asked a waiter to bring them both some water and the bill, the blond though persisted "I mean it! I don't want that guy...he'sh mean...called me a dobe...and shmirked! You should see him shmirk! 'nd you! You don't need that prick! You're kind, and fun, and the besht frientd in the whole huge universe!"

"Okay man, we need to get you home." Kiba mumbled hoping the waiter would hurry the hell up with the bill. The water was placed on their table by another person and he did his best to hydrate his drunken friend. In the midst of him explaining to the blond that the straw was meant for drinking through and not chewing, a tall dark haired man stopped at their table.

"I take it, you didn't lie about being from UofT" through the thick fog in his mind, Naruto recognized the voice. He heard it before, but very briefly. It certainly resembled the one he didn't want to hear right now, but not quite. In need of confirmation, he raised his head with the straw still in his mouth and grinned, dropping the thing on the table.

"Creepy dude with a ponytail!" The blond said gleefully, pointing a finger at the guy.

"Hey!" Kiba looked at his friend accusingly and forced the raised hand down. No matter how drunk, no one talked to _that_ man like that.

The brunet put hands in pockets of his expensive trousers, straightened his shoulders and then, to Kiba's surprise, laughed out loud whole heartedly.

"Fair enough, little stalker" he said and then stretched his hand towards the blond "Itachi Uchiha"

Naruto may have been drunk but he still remembered his manners and shook the man's hand in return "Narwuto Uzhumaki" then followed with "not a shtalker!"

"Or, but my little brother says otherwise" Itachi countered with a little smile. The blond was an adorable little thing when drunk, too bad Sasuke was occupied with work matters tonight. This would have been so much more fun.

"Your lil' brother can shtick that "otherwise" up his mmpfh!" Kiba had to interfere, he still wished to walk out of this bar alive and unharmed. He apologized to the brunet for his friend's rotten mouth but then got his hand slapped off. "Kiba! Don't take his side! Kissh me and prove this jerk I don't need no bastards in my life! And you—" the blond pointed at Itachi again "—get your hot lil' brother off my back!"

"But he is not on your back, little stalker" the young politician noted, his smile widening as he leaned in to whisper into Naruto's ear "but once he is, I doubt you will mind" Pleased with himself, the brunet straightened and walked away leaving the suddenly frozen wide-eyed blond blushing furiously at the table.

When the bill finally arrived, Kiba shook Naruto back to life and sent him to the washroom to sober up a bit. He took care of the bill and just sat there waiting for the blondie to come back.

"Are you into blonds now?" came a cold silky voice from behind him.

"Sabaku" saying the name out loud left as horrible taste as ever "You came here to pick a fight, didn't you?"

"No" the redhead flatly responded taking the blond's seat at the table "But if you want me to, I could add it to my plans"

"What do you want?"

"Help" Kiba's brow raised suggesting that he didn't believe Gaara in the least "As a matter of fact, I've been searching for you for the past hour."

"What? And why would you be looking for me?"

"Got a text from Neji." The brunet's attention peaked at hearing the name "He is stuck in an elevator, there is not a single life in the observatory, even Hidan left, so I couldn't get in. Looks like you're the only one who can help him"

"Dammit!" The mechanic cursed, jumping off his stool "I will send that demonic device to the elevator hell where it's going to be broken down to tiny little pieces, melted into a pathetic puddle, and then wiped from existence!"

When Naruto came back, Kiba apologized hastily and explained that Gaara would drive the blond home, then hurried off to the cab that was already waiting for him outside.

* * *

"Are you sure you'll be fine?" Gaara asked parking his car just outside Naruto's building "I can walk you to the apartment"

"Nah, that's ok. I sobered up a bit, just tired" the astronomer said yawning "I really appreciate the lift"

"No problem" the redhead said helping the blond untangle the safety belt and get out of the car.

Frosty air outside felt incredible on his flushed skin and Naruto stood there for a bit, watching Gaara pull of and drive away. He looked at the sky and noticed that it cleared up completely, if he wasn't within Tokyo, for sure it would have been full of stars. With cold quickly creeping in under his clothes, Naruto shivered and went inside. It's been another long and confusing day and he couldn't wait to sleep it off.

The elevator was right there, when he came in, and within seconds he arrived to his floor. Outside of the apartment, the astronomer felt the fatigue gradually overwhelming his whole body. With arms heavy, as if they were full of led, he struggled to get the keys out of the pocket of his jeans first, then had an even harder time finding the keyhole. Once in, the key refused to turn and the blond mumbled murderously under his breath all sorts of things. With no luck opening the door, he raised his head in suspicion and looked carefully at the suite number.

"Dammit" He cursed and his forehead hit the door with a thud tiredly. The damn elevator skipped his floor again and dropped him off on the third. And like a moron he was trying to unlock the wrong apartment.

Not a single cell in his body had any strength left and the blond slid along the door to the floor making an executive decision to rest there for a bit before heading home. As his consciousness slowly drifted off into the unknown, he caught a glimpse of soft steps approaching and stopping right next to him. He heard a quiet _"Hn"_ then, but was too far off in the dreamland to do anything about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Footnotes:
> 
> [1] in the only one observatory that I worked in (well, did an unpaid internship in), we occasionally had red lamps around the parking lot - enough light to see the road but not enough to interfere with the work of our telescopes. Still, we all tried to get to the place before dark, as we were in the mountains and the drive in the dark was suicidal.
> 
> [2] JAXA - Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency
> 
> [3] I think I explained it in ch 2?
> 
> By the way, the meteorite in Russia did happen, during the day, and 7,000 homes were indeed ruined. You can read about it in the news. I think it was 2013. I guess you're learning quite a bit about astronomy from this fic, lol ))


	8. Floor 8. About time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiba rushes to his favorite professor's rescue despite the still unresolved feelings. KibaNeji finale!

Neji stood with arms crossed at his chest, cool and composed as if the elevator didn't just shook violently, slowed down and then _screeched_ to a full stop. He let out a slow breath and waited, for sure it was nothing to worry about – just a glitch that's soon to pass, an inconvenience of few mere seconds.

Seconds turned to minutes.

And then to a few more minutes.

"This can't be happening" the brunet pinched at the bridge of his nose in annoyance and then looked at the metal doors again with a particularly icy stare, but the treacherous thing remained shut, completely ignoring the attitude it was given. He pressed the button for basement again, but just like the previous few times, nothing happened.

The elevator was stuck.

With Neji in it.

"This can't be happening", he couldn't help repeating. This was not right... Being stuck in an elevator was something that happened to Uzumaki (a lot), or Inuzuka (sometimes), or any other damn person on this planet, but not him (ever).

Hyuugas don't get stuck in elevators.

Period.

This wasn't happening.

He refused to accept it and pushed the button again, sighing in frustration.

* * *

"You can't be serious!" Kiba shouted at the driving away cab. The driver dropped him off just a few blocks away from the bar blatantly refusing to drive outside the city. But that was okay— there were still other cabs around... he had a few numbers saved, if only he could just find it— why did it have to be tonight?

* * *

The minutes added up to half hour. It was now official: some Hyuugas do get stuck in elevators.

The emergency call didn't seem to do anything. Anything helpful, that is. It did other things—honestly, something weird was with that button. The first time he pushed it, it would not stop ringing as if whoever was on the other end of the line didn't want to pick up. Well, it was just after three in the morning, but wasn't it supposed to work 24/7? It was the emergency button, wasn't it? The second time, the call just disconnected and he waited a bit before trying again. Same thing happened the third time, then the forth. It was on the fifth, that the call seemed to go through, but to his ' _hello?_ ' he only heard a ' _damn elevator_ ' in a very raspy grumpy voice right before the connection broke again.

"That would be my line" Neji mumbled under his breath trying the button again. He did not care how inconvenient it was for the person on the other end, for sure it was their job to pick it up and send someone to rescue him from this, as Kiba put it before, demonic device. This time though the call went right through but—

_"You have reached Hoshigaki,"_

—was it voicemail?

 _"I am either unavailable,—"_ yes, it was definitely a voicemail as it was the same voice as before, just less raspy and more menacing _"—in which case I have better things to do than listen to your message, or you called me outside working hours. Which means you got balls, and I'll enjoy shredding them to ribbons. So, go ahead, leave a message and I'll know where to find you"_

Needless to say, the young professor didn't touch the emergency button after that.

He still had a problem though: in the last half hour, the elevator didn't get any less stuck. Pushing the buttons didn't work, obviously, so Neji had to consider other options.

Cellphone.

Wonderful idea, why on earth had he not thought of that earlier? Well, technically, he was under earth at the moment, but that's not an excuse. So. Phone. 'Where was it again?' Neji thought looking through his pockets just as an image of the device laying on his desk in the Time Lab came to mind. He swore out loud, not ashamed. Not that there was anyone around to hear. Which brought him to the second idea.

Shouting for help.

Again, not bad. Generally, people stuck in an elevator would call for help, or otherwise let someone from the outside know of their predicament. There were two problems with this option, though. One: Neji have not shouted, screamed, or otherwise raised his voice since he was six. Since that one time when the little Hinata tied his precious hair in braids with purple ribbons, bows, and blue sparkles. As she cried loudly with tears and snot running down her adorable chubby face in response to his rushed reaction, he promised to never shout again. He would courageously sit there and allow the kid do her thing after that, if it meant to keep his baby cousin smiling (all photos from that period of his life were, of course, burned down to the ground, dissolved in acid, thrown into space, or otherwise destroyed without a trace) The second problem with this idea was one simple fact: there was not a single soul left in the observatory, or within the five miles radius, for that matter. His commitment to his job be damned that made him stay and not leave with the rest of the scientists when the storm cleared.

Prying the doors open was not an option as the professor, armed with only one half-bent plastic pass card, didn't have anything to pry it open with. He also had no idea if he was between floors or not, which complicated things substantially.

Escape through the hatch was also discarded immediately. For so many reasons. First, he wasn't tall enough to reach the ceiling. Second, there wasn't even any hatch, and if it were, what next? Would he rope-climb up? Let's get real, he wasn't in a ninja movie...

There was only one other option left—the one Neji was least comfortable with as it required admitting his own helplessness—sit back and wait till morning. He slowly slid down to the floor, arms resting on his propped up knees, lips tight and a frown firmly in place to show just how pleased he was with the whole thing. But there was no point in standing – the morning was still few hours away. Four hours and twenty seven minutes, to be exact, till the cleaner's first shift at 8:00am. Even though the young professor never carried a watch, he always knew the time. And it wouldn't pass fast enough...

Being stuck in an elevator was disturbing, to say the least. Floor was dusty from the whole day of use, and Neji knew for a fact that his white lab coat, on which he was currently sitting, was going to be ruined by morning. The air was stuffy and cold, which started to creep in under his clothes leaving traces of goosebumps. But what bothered him the most was silence.

While the quiet was normally his second best friend,—kind of comes with the job in an isolated lab in the basement of a remote research facility that is hidden away from the city lights— today, Neji went out of his way to avoid it at all costs. He actually made an effort to be around other people, which went against his whole nature. His mind always worked faster in the quiet, but today—

Neji sighed heavily, closing his eyes and feeling the silence ringing in his ears

—today, he simply didn't want for it to work, didn't want to think at all. Because every single thought led to the same damn thing – the fight he had with Inuzuka. Now, without anyone around, it all came back: the words he said, that hurtful look in the widening dark eyes, and the sight of the man's back when he turned around and left. His heart still ached from having said all that but was there another way? It's not like he lied, saying that he didn't want friendship.

"But the imbecile is just so damn persistent," professor murmured and his head ducked in despair "so damn friendly"

The very first day Neji joined the Time lab, he noticed that, like Earth and other planets moved around the Sun, everything and everyone in the Konoha Observatory moved around the lead mechanic. Soon after, he learned that it was not because of the role itself, but because the person occupying it was Inuzuka Kiba, who was like the star of this closed-off system – endless source of energy that connected thousands of moving pieces on the go. Every night and most days he would spend in the lab, making sure the equipment worked, scientists had space and resources for their research, mechanics and other employees had something to do and enjoyed doing it. He would smile left and right, offer to or simply help without even asking, connect the teams through constant get-togethers and birthday celebrations. He was friends with everyone and made sure to treat everyone equally. And that last part was the cause of a certain professor's agony.

Neji didn't want to be treated equally.

And it _hurt_.

' _Neji_ ' the lead mechanic's voice ringed in his ears.

It was same as ' _Naruto_ '

Or ' _Karin_ '

Same as every-bloody-one else.

It hurt every single time he was addressed to informally, treated on par with everyone.

The young professor sighed again and stared at the ceiling blankly, feeling the familiar dull pain return to the middle of his chest.

Honestly, falling in love with the idiot was inevitable. That warm outgoing personality—which was complete opposite of Neji's cold and composed demeanour—made it so easy to be around Kiba. His sense of humour could rival Gaara's, and the way he laughed at his own jokes was so damn endearing. And that broad strong body and blinding smile of his weren't helping either—

The scientist felt his cheeks burning thinking back about the results of the stupid contest and released a slow breath. How could Kiba get the last place, and with only one vote to boot? Suddenly even more embarrassed, Neji buried his fully flushed face in his hands. Thank heavens the lead mechanic threw away the list without noticing... No one else made a big deal out of it either. So he was safe.

But he was still stuck.

With four hours and five minutes more to go.

"Damn elevator"

The light inside flickered and turned off.

* * *

"This is ridiculous!" Kiba slammed the cab door so hard it echoed through the empty parking lot "highway robbery!" he shouted again after the driving away cab that charged him thee times the regular rate.

Naturally, it was hard to find a cab willing to get you to a remote research facility in the middle of the night. It was even harder to get it drive the unlit country road safely. But the hardest part was—

The hardest part was explaining to the driver that at the end of the road was an observatory, and not a mass burial site of cab drivers that were not paid enough to drive maniacs around! Garh! So frustrating. He really didn't have time for this, so agreed to pay the outrageous fare.

As soon as the car left the premises, the brunet pushed the button to close the gates and jogged to the entrance, leaving deep footprints on the fresh crunchy snow and a trail of puffs of white air. It was bloody freezing after the snowstorm, but helped to clear off some buzz from all the drinking with Naruto. He needed that, so just before entering the building, Kiba took few more deep stinging breaths of dry winter air and felt its coolness go all the down to his insides, which flipped immediately at the thought of seeing Neji so soon. With heavens help he would be in some sort of condition to talk to him. It was unplanned, the anger was still there together with other raw and unexplained emotions, not to mention alcohol still clouded his brain, but—the mechanic looked at his watch and swore out loud—it was quarter after four in the morning, making it roughly two hours since the scientist got stuck in the elevator. And regardless of how angry he was with the man, there was no use to keep him stuck in there all night.

Inuzuka stepped inside and hurried off to the supplies closet, hating the way the warm air brought heat right back to his cheeks. Dammit, he should have stopped with the shots much earlier. Having grabbed whatever needed, the brunet ran to the service room to check on the computers that monitored elevators. The technician mentioned to him before that they could require a reboot, if there was power outage or some other glitch.

Kiba checked the computers and found them working perfectly. They also showed that the elevator wasn't between floors, it actually reached the basement. Which was good, but something happened with the door or maybe something was blocking it from opening. Having set up the system, the mechanic fled down the stairs: the reboot would take a few minutes and it was programmed to open the doors right after. So he wanted to be there, in case the door was jammed and he would need to pry it open with a wench.

* * *

It was weird and uncomfortable, the floor was too hard and Hyuuga could already feel the pain in his backside. The wall of the elevator was cold, but he was still leaning on it for support because it's not like there was anything else around. Neji must have dozed off sometime ago because he almost lost track of time and finally, finally, stopped thinking. Also, his eyes were closed and he honestly would rather keep them that way: staring at the four tall walls wasn't fun or of any use. But then, something was poking on his shoulder. Neji tried to ignore the feeling, but it grew harder and harder each time, it _persisted_. His brows furrowed. Why would't it just go away?

"...ake up, Ne—..." he heard a soft voice "wake up" his eyes snapped open to a face leaning over him, then closed immediately from the blinding light. "Good, you're awake. You're ok?"

The professor groaned and rubbed at his face from the remains of the sleep, at the same time trying to gather bits and pieces of his consciousness together. What was Kiba doing here? Didn't he leave with Uzumaki?

"Oh, I came to get you out" he heard the brunet answer. How did he?—Wait, did he ask that out loud?

Eager to get out of the elevator, Neji tried to stand up, he had enough of that thing, but his numb legs failed him and he found himself back on the floor. The second try was better but only because this time the mechanic gently supported him by the shoulders first and then slipped an arm around his back. They were so warm, Kiba's hands, in contrast to the air in, and walls of, the elevator. It was like being wrapped in a blanket and Neji couldn't stop himself from leaning in to the pleasant feeling for a second.

Only a second, though, as right after, the professor straightened and, sensing the strength come back to his legs, walked out of the elevator.

"Thank you" Neji heard his raspy voice and felt the dryness all the way down his throat. "Coffee?" He asked without turning back to the other man that was still standing inside the damned machine. Getting a simple ' _sure_ ' in response, he walked away towards his lab. With all the time in the elevator, he still felt too bare, too unprepared for being around Inuzuka.

* * *

The mechanic walked into the time lab right after the professor and watched him discard the dirty lab coat to a chair and then start the coffeemaker. The man only had a dress shirt on, no wonder he was so cold to the touch in the elevator; it must have been freezing in there! He saw Neji put on a sweater, which appeared from one of the drawers, thankfully, and then busy himself with mugs and sugar.

Taking off his puffer, Inuzuka sat on the couch without a word and simply waited for— something. Anything. It was awkward and quiet and he hated every second of it but couldn't quite bring himself to break the silence.

Back in the elevator, he almost called the other man by the first name again, barely stopping himself at the last moment – no use to wake him up just to start an argument again. But, dammit, it just came so naturally! His crush was sitting asleep on the floor of an elevator – calm and relaxed, despite the obviously uncomfortable position. The frown Kiba was so used to seeing was gone as if it was never there, loose strands of hair gently falling over the shoulders. All the anger he felt before dissipated like it was nothing. How could he address him formally, coldly when his heart was swelling with fondness? It took his all willpower to not kiss the man right there.

And now that said man was quietly pouring coffee in the mugs, as composed as ever with the usual crinkle back in place between the brows.

"Um—" the silence was killing him, and Kiba decided to start with something small "Sorry about the elevator"

Surprised at the sudden break of silence, Neji's hand froze mid-air interrupting the task of pouring coffee but then relaxed and continued with the next mug. "Why apologize? It's not like you had anything to do with it"

"Ah, about that—" Kiba scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly, intently following professor's movements: there was boiling hot coffee involved...and perhaps he shouldn't have started with this..."—fox-face and I actually did have something to do with it"

"What" with the word—not a question, a demand—Neji walked over to the couch and stood right in front of the other man, glass carafe still firmly in his hand. Kiba's eyes moved from cold pale ones to the steam coming off the dangerous object and then finally to the floor.

"Err—before we left, we may have, urgh, kicked it" the mechanic felt like falling through that floor from shame "a few times" all the way to hell actually as the floor was in a basement and there was nothing else under it "more than a few times. It left a dent—" seeing the professors eyes turning to icicles, he gulped audibly "—on the door. And it jammed when you reached the floor"

"Why does this not surprise me" Neji released a frustrated breath and walked back to the coffee maker, then, finding a way around his desk, he landed on the chair gracefully and took a sip from his mug "was it Uzumaki's idea? Such unprofessional behaviour should not be entertained in a research facility. He is really being a bad influence on you"

"It was my idea, actually." Kiba countered, confused "The darn thing was pissing me off for the past two weeks—got to get the thing replaced—so no need to blame Naruto for anything. And what do you mean by bad influence?"

"You're constantly late, distracted, short tempered, it is not like you" Neji stated matter-of-factly, pushing the mug closer to the other man.

"Huff, he is hardly at fault here" the mechanic snorted and breathed in the steam from his mug. The alcohol buzz returned and with it the usual sleepiness, but coffee was supposed to help, wasn't it?

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." He said but together with the burning coffee he had to gulp down the desire to just blurt his frustrating feelings out. "What are you doing here anyways? Everyone else is gone"

"That's precisely the reason. Nara left without finishing the work. Machine needs to be prepared for tomorrow night's time adjustment. And he just left"

"Damn, he shouldn't have. But when it comes to Temari, he is so bad, just forgets about everything else when she is around. I can't figure out if she ignores him on purpose or not"

Neji gave this a thought: it was true, indeed, every time Gaara's sister was in town, Nara would be useful only around her and neglect everyone and everything else around. It seemed he had finally gotten his driver's license to be able to offer her a ride to the airport. Not that he couldn't drive before, of course the idiot genius could, but was just always too lazy to go through with the paperwork and exams. There was resemblance to how Inuzuka behaved around a certain blond scientist. With the memory of them two walking out of the kitchen together playing before his eyes, Neji quietly stated:

"Just like you, around Uzumaki"

Kiba's eyes narrowed at the accusation and a bolt of hurt and anger flashed through his veins.

"Just like you around Gaara", he countered knowing that it wasn't really true as Neji has always been very diligent and responsible, but so was he for damn's sake and being accused was simply maddening.

"Now that's not fair" the professor stood from his chair in defence "Gaara and I are good friends and I don't forget my obligations when he is here"

"Friends, really? Is that all you are?" the mechanic stood as well, remembering the redhead's hands all over the professor, dammit. The pulse ringed in his ears and buzz from alcohol increased tenfold, with it the whole bouquet of ugly emotions overwhelmed his senses. He should have just helped the man out of the elevator and left him to his own devices. Instead there they were again, fighting.

He was about to walk around the desk and press Hyuuga for explanations, to finally get some answers, or better yet to shut him up and not talk at all and make his feelings clear through something else entirely but a _piercing_ sound from the other end of the room forced him out of the moment.

Kiba had to cover his both ears to somehow lower the effect of the loud noise and saw Neji do the same. Two pairs of eyes widened in panic when the realization hit both men – the sound came from the Time Machine, and as it was an atomic clock, so many things could go wrong. No, nothing could explode, and no, the clock wasn't radioactive as it didn't rely on atomic decay, but the thought of it breaking and interrupting the time of Japan was just as terrifying.

The sound wouldn't shut up – it was continuous and high-pitched, and, dammit, Kiba's eyes started watering already as he ran towards the machine, with Neji hot at his heels. The first looked through every piece of equipment one by one trying to find the source of the noise, while the other checked the computers for any abnormalities in the second count. Both breathed out in relief noting that everything was correct and as it should be – the machine was not the source. But the sound still continued and still was coming from that general direction.

The professor saw mechanic disappear under the computer desk to check the wiring along the wall and to see what else could possibly be the cause. His eyes shut, as if it would help, but, heavens, the sound was unbearable. It bounced from concrete walls and seemed to echo through his whole body. Through the noise he heard the other man swear and then the sudden silence pierced the room. Though it seemed just as loud and the ringing in the ears wouldn't stop.

"Fuck!" Kiba shouted, trying to get out from under the desk "I am firing that lazy couchfucking pinapple-headed assholefuck!" He turned around to the wide eyed Neji and continued with the explanation: "the uninterrupted power supply—the battery that is connected to the time machine in case of power outages—is loosing its capacity. I asked the lazy fucker to change it today but he obviously forgot. Had no idea the warning sound would be that loud, but then gain I always had it changed on schedule"

As a light chuckle reached his ears he looked at the other man in the room, who was by then laughing out loud.

"I thought my heart would stop" Neji said between the laughs, a tear rolling down his cheek "it was a damn battery" he laughed more, trying to cover his smile with one hand, another clutching at his abdomen, but it didn't really help and Kiba looked at him in bewilderment. It was the very first time he saw the professor laugh and couldn't stop himself from following suit.

They walked away from the machine, still laughing at the whole stupidity of what just happened. Why on earth would a battery need to have such warning signal? It didn't even need to be replaced right away, it could work for at least two more weeks without any critical loss to the performance.

As they sat on the couch, finishing their coffees, Kiba felt the urge to bring out more of that smile he got a glimpse of and started talking about other silly incidents that happened when Neji wasn't around. There were many and not all of them, contrary to everyone's opinion, were caused by him. Like how could he possibly arrange for Konohamaru to lock himself out on the dome of the Beast with pants stuck between the firmly shut door and the frame? The poor guy had to climb down the emergency stairs, flashing the strawberry-banana underwear to the world. And really, how could he know that letting Akamaru run around freely would lead to Karin's frothier flying out of her hands straight to Suigetsu's hair? Why else would he be so afraid of the thing? Oh, and, honestly, that time when the redhead's lab got raided by a hoard of bats was totally her fault! She needed to stop working so much in the dark and to the tunes of goth metal!

Neji listened to the stories with amusement in his eyes and let a few chuckles out. It only proved his point that the observatory was full of idiots. How could they even get through university and such prestigious one to boot? But all of them somehow made the place enjoyable to work in, they seemed to be so close, all of them. And talking to Kiba like this was nice, actually. So what if he was treated the same as everyone, it didn't hurt as much when sitting together so close and just chatting. Maybe he should give that friend thought another try. No one could know where it may lead to.

"Why is friendship so important to you?" He asked, taking the mugs away to the cabinet "You have so many, why need more?"

"It is not a numbers game." Kiba shrugged his shoulders, and yawned. The exhaustion finally coming over him. "You get to know a person a little and like them for one reason or another, want to learn more about them, share interesting things, help them out, hear them rant" It was simple, really, some people were nice to have around and some, take the oblivious professor for example, were downright essential. He yawned again and stretched, fighting the sleep.

"I don't rant" Neji said, drawing a laugh out of him.

"Didn't think so! Well, I rant, a lot. So what if I want to have a friend to rant to?" he said and the other brunet looked at him amused.

"That explains why you need so many."

"Hey!"

"I apologize" the professor said, eyes suddenly serious. "For being so rude before and saying that I don't want to be your friend"

Kiba looked at him confused "that's alright, I shouldn't have behaved as I did, too. It's not like friendship can be forced on someone, right?"

"Still, it was out of line. I think I want to give it a try" Neji confessed and stretched his hand to the other brunet but seeing the large grin stretching Kiba's face withdrew it just before they touched "But we are still not on the first-name basis. I am not used to it, only family calls me that way. So, Hyuuga, ok?"

"Sure. As long as you call me Kiba, we are fine"

"I'll try" the long haired brunet sighed at the compromise and stretched his hand out again.

The mechanic smiled gleefully not believing his luck – for the whole year he was trying to get on the professor's good side. If he knew that would work, he would have let the damn battery expire long time ago. And maybe, just maybe, the pineapple-head didn't need to be fired after all.

Excitement rushed through his veins all the way to the fingertips and Kiba returned the gesture. But as their hands locked, the cold from the professor's fingers transferred over to the mechanic, travelled up all the way to his heart and it _seized_ —

_Friends_

—another seize

_Colleagues_

The words echoed through his mind, louder than the sound of the battery before. It was what he wanted, wasn't it? He thought furrowing his brows and not releasing the hold.

_No_

No, it wasn't.

Of its own accord the tan hand squeezed the pale one tightly and Kiba found himself _falling_ —Or was it Neji's body that got pulled to him, he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure of anything in the world as his lips finally claimed what they yearned for from the moment he saw the scientist on the floor of the elevator, or earlier tonight in the kitchen, or yesterday in Gaaras arms, _no_ , from very moment the man walked into the room at that damned Christmas soirée.

Chilly, and soft, like fresh snow, they were, and _melting_ from his heated breath. He stilled and simply gave in to the feeling. A part of him wished for the time to just stop right there, right that instant. His hand, still holding the other man's, trembled against his chest as if afraid the beating heart behind it would jump out. He stayed like that, in heaven, but still unsure, doubt, panic, started to creep into his mind and he was about to pull away when—

it all went blank

—he felt soft lips move agains his and with that all doubts, all restraints evaporated. His other hand found its way up the man's nape and buried into long hair, just as he deepened the kiss.

_Sweet_

Damn, Kiba was thirsty for this sweetness, savouring it like it was the last drop in the universe. The taste of coffee, sugar—and something else unique overwhelmed his senses...just how much sugar did the guy put in the coffee? Enough to get addicted, that's for sure, or maybe it wasn't sugar he was getting addicted to at all. He plunged his tongue deeper and, feeling the other muscle respond just as eagerly, didn't bother to suppress the moan.

The need to be closer, to feel more of the man in his arms, drove the mechanic wild and he pressed further, and further, until not anyone could come in between them, not a single atom, until—

He heard the professor grunt in pain—not the sound he was expecting—and realized that the man's back just hit the cabinet and not in a pleasant way. That wasn't going to work, Kiba thought as he pulled Neji away from the hard surface into another kiss and moved backwards in the general direction of the couch. He hissed when his leg got caught by the coffee table corner and swore out loud drawing a laugh from the other man. Heavens, he wanted to hear more of that silver laugh, but later. Now—more than anything in the whole universe—he wanted to hear many other equally wonderful and slightly more delicious sounds.

Slowly and carefully, the mechanic lowered them both on the soft surface and pulled the professor on top of him. Pale eyes clouded with desire reminded him of the sky before the snowstorm – just as powerful, just as beautiful. Lose strands of long hair fell around the man's shoulders like the night itself. He was so mesmerized by the view that didn't register the buttons of his shirt being undone until none were left and slightly cold fingers came into contact with his heated skin. He hissed in pleasure just before the scientist dove into another kiss.

"You're drunk" Neji whispered biting on slightly swollen lips and searching for an answer in the dark eyes.

"Of course, I am." Obviously, the traces of alcohol still remained and Kiba laughed to that. "I am also dreaming, there's no way you would be responding if this was real"

He flipped them over and pressed Neji further into the couch, letting out a shallow breath at the heat and friction between them. No words were said after..

Heavens, being so close still wasn't enough. The need to possess every inch of the man beneath him only multiplied with every second, every heartbeat, every breath. The smell from hair he buried his nose into was simply divine. How many times did he dream of biting down behind this beautifully shaped ear? Leaving a mark on this long pale neck? This collar bone? Kiba moved lower and lower until the sweater couldn't stretch far enough and groaned, then withdrew sharply.

The sweater had to go—no, everything had to go. With the way the man made him feel, his body heat was enough for the two of them. Pulling the professor up, he tried to take both the sweater and shirt in one go, starving for the skin it hid beneath, but the cuffs got caught in the process trapping Neji inside. Both laughed at the silliness of it all and slowed down to untangle the mess and free themselves of the unneeded garments.

As soon as that was out of the way, Kiba pushed the scientist back down in another searing kiss. His skin was on fire and cold fingers clutching at his back sent shivers and electric pleasure up his nerves right to the brain and he felt dizzy, uncontrolled, wild. His mind was already out of the window by then, but _this_ sent it right into the outer space.

"Neji..my Neji.." the mechanic whispered between kisses, drowning in the unique taste of the other man. He felt fingers slide along his spine all the way down to the rim of his jeans and got the hint. Trailing his tongue, nips and little bites down the neck, then chest, drawing soft gasps out of the professor, he moved even lower until the pretty shaped belly button came into his view. Seriously, even the tiniest of details in this man were so beautiful. Did he not possess any flaws?

Another moan and Kiba was back to his task, unbuttoning Neji's slacks and tugging them down as far as they could go, exposing him to the chilly air in the Time Lab. But not for long. Not able to control himself, he sucked at the velvet skin while working on his own jeans. Dammit, slacks were so much easier to get rid of.

Not wasting another heartbeat and feeling the shivers on pale skin, he returned with another kiss to Neji's lips. Feeling long strong legs wrap around his hips and slim fingers clutch at his shoulders, Kiba lost the last restraint and pressed down, catching another gasp with his mouth, and then again, repeatedly, raising the heat between them. Acting purely on instinct, he slid one hand along their bodies and took both of their members at once, pumping in rhythm. All of it was unplanned, they were not prepared, so this had to do for now.

Naji raised himself to keep up with the movements and threw his head back just enough to expose more of the white neck to Kiba's lips. They weren't going to last long—the year of frustrations, longing, and misunderstandings finally came to an end—and the only thing they could see was white.

* * *

The mechanic woke up to the smell of fresh coffee, mild headache, and soft sounds of laptop keys. He sat up and noticed an unfamiliar blanket sliding down to his lap. Rubbing both hands on his face he mumbled good mornings to the man behind the desk and said:

"Didn't know you had blankets"

"I didn't" Neji responded in the usual cool voice, but a small chuckle still escaped his lips to Kiba's amusement. "Not until the cleaner lady threw it at our faces a little while go"

"You're kidding" he said bewildered.

"I have no idea how you didn't wake up to that"

"Growing up with two siblings, seven cousins, and five dogs in one house would do that to you" Kiba explained and laughed out loud "man, she is not going to shut up about it"

"Yes, I am sure that by noon, half of the lab would know" the professor said, standing up and throwing a shirt right at Kiba. Catching the garment mid air, he walked over to Neji and leaned in for a kiss, but instead buried his face in the man's neck. Morning breath after a night out with Naruto was a nasty thing and there was no way he was subjecting his lover to this torture.

 _Lover_.

He smiled and mumbled into professor's collar "We should probably talk about that"

"Nothing to talk about" Neji tried to push the bigger man away by the hair "You were drunk, I took advantage of you" drawing a laugh out of him.

"That's not how I remember it" Kiba said wrapping both hands around the slender man, leaving no ways to escape and whispered "there is nothing you can do that would be taking advantage of me"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This concludes KibaNeji story! I hope you weren't disappointed by my first attempt at writing smut... Please let me know if you found Neji as silly and Kiba as sweet as I did :)


	9. Top floor. The Penthouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke meets a perfect angel who turns out to be an idiot and keeps meeting him over and over again. And what's this thing with elevators? SasuNaru finale! Modern AU. SasuNaru, KibaNeji, other pairings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Footnotes:
> 
> [1] Karoshi – means death caused by overwork. a pretty scary thing that seems to be a big issue in Japan, China, and South Korea. But no one died in this story! Let's just think more about our work-study-life balance...
> 
> [2] Sentry is a highly automated impact prediction system. It continuously monitors the most current asteroid catalog for possibilities of future impact with Earth and sorts them out by risk. Google it, if you want to know more.

It was bloody three in the morning, on a Sunday, and he was still in the office. Even for a workaholic like him it was absolutely ridiculous, Sasuke acknowledged and sighed heavily, pinching at the bridge of his nose. As the light on his laptop faded indicating the shutdown of the device, he rolled away from the desk and stood up, feeling the much needed stretch in his legs. Rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and discarding the tie to the couch where his blazer laid long forgotten, he turned to the large glass window. The storm passed but not until it covered all the mess on the streets with a white blanket and flushed away the crowds from downtown. For a district that was famous for never sleeping, it looked eerily quiet. With another sigh the brunet turned around and walked over to a little cabinet that contained the one thing he desperately needed after the kind of day he had. Whiskey.

Having poured two fingers in a tulip shaped glass and decided to skip the rocks this time, he breathed in the strong aroma and took a small sip. The liquid coated the insides of the young businessman's mouth and washed over the tongue with bittersweet warmth, then heated the path down the throat just to bloom sweetly in his chest. Damn, that hit the spot. Dropping on the couch, he closed his eyes and just sat there enjoying the sensation – it has been over twenty hours of madness and he sure as hell deserved a break.

It began with the damn explosion in Russia. Over six million square miles of land and it just had to happen above his bloody plant. Gas extraction plant. First few hours of his day were spent trying to find someone, anyone, who could explain what the hell happened there. Then, a few more went on setting straight the freaked out management team on site, so that they in turn could calm the employees. It would have been so much easier to just fly out there and do everything in person but the storm overtook the city and even his charter wasn't allowed to take off. So he had to, no kidding, _skype_. For half a day he had to videoconference instructions through, so that the imbeciles stopped running around in circles like headless chickens and finally started assessing the damages. Which, thankfully, turned out to be minimal and easily fixable.

But then, in the city near the plant, there were injured. Thousands of people with minor and some with critical conditions, but not from the explosion itself. The blast did some damage to residential buildings, caused breaking of windows, consequently harming people and spreading panic. Hospitals were overwhelmed and Sasuke instructed to open up their medical wing to assist in treating the injured. They were the biggest employer in the area and it was the least they could do to help their workers' families.

When that was taken care of, the local authorities started calling in. They had the nerve to allege his company of testing ballistic missiles in Russian aerospace. Like, what the hell? Sure, Uchiha Group had a diverse portfolio of companies under its belt—from sake brewing to space rocket manufacturing—but missiles? Really? No, it was not one of them. His local research team worked tirelessly trying to understand the cause of explosion to prove their innocence and it turned out to be—

Sasuke smiled at that, taking another sip of his drink

—it turned out to be a meteorite. Now, that was the highlight of his day. It explained a lot, actually: why the explosion was in the atmosphere and not on land, why it was so unexpected and big, but more importantly, why there were minimal damages to his extraction site. A couple of years back, when the plant was in the final stages of development, Sasuke came across a white paper published by the UofT. It spoke about several potentially hazardous asteroids that were on their way to Earth but not listed in the Sentry Risk Table [2] or any of the asteroid catalogues. They were missed. The coordinates of possible meteorite landings included that of his plant in Russia, as well as gold mines in Kazakhstan and Alaska. Uchiha's luck, he guessed...

Sasuke spent a lot of time on advanced calculations—which turned into his own thesis—and found that, should the paper turn out to be correct, the company would suffer billions of dollars in damages, repairs, lost revenue, and lives, quite likely. Instead of crossing fingers and hoping for it to be wrong, he saw a business case there and approved a few hundred million dollar spend on improvements of the sites to withstand enough damage to minimize the losses. Today it all paid off.

He also decided then to invest in the scientist's research, who later wrote a dissertation on the subject for his PhD in Astronomy. Though, unfortunately, it wasn't accepted by the peers and the poor guy's application was denied. Sasuke still continued investing in all his research projects, but under the radar, as a personal investment and not through company. Not because he didn't believe in it, but to not draw too much attention to it. There was no way he would allow competitors notice such a gold mine, was there? That was how he first learned the name Naruto Uzumaki.

Thinking that getting to know the man would be a good idea, Sasuke went to the Christmas party hosted by the Konoha Observatory—or was it called _soirée_? whatever. It was a disastrous night, which left him unsatisfied on multiple accounts. Not only was he not able to speak to the scientist, who he was certain at the time to be a middle aged man for sure, but there was no whiskey at the bar, just bloody sparkly wine. In addition to that, there were vultures lurking around trying to sweet talk him and his brother into shady investments, or sex, or shady investments and sex. Unexpectedly, he was saved by a blond haired angel, then, with eyes of the deepest oceans, but whose name he didn't get.

Sasuke chuckled at the memory of the young man sleepily asking for a dance, perhaps confusing him with someone, then softly snoring on his chest through most of the night, occasionally mumbling deathly curses at whoever decided to throw a party mid- his precious 'nap time'. It was a win-win, really: a surface to sleep peacefully for one (though vertical, but not as if the blond complained), for another – a perfect shield from vultures and constant attempts at useless socializing. And honestly, one ruined Armani was a fair price for that.

Unfortunately, the angel was whisked away by a masked man just when he himself was about to find a more suitable place for the two of them. If only he knew then, that the young man was the same scientist he was looking for, he wouldn't have given him up so easily. Instead—

The brunet released another heavy and frustrated sigh at that

—he allowed himself to get absorbed in work and forget the meeting even happened. Until yesterday's morning, that is—or was it the day before? They all seemed to blend into one lately... Anyways, it was Friday morning when the blond again appeared in his life, out of the blue. Startled by the encounter and also the complete lack of recognition in blue eyes, he reacted in a way that wasn't best. Far-far away from best. But then the blond introduced himself by the one name Sasuke came to respect so deeply, and in the same sentence as some mediocre architecture firm? That had to be a mistake. He was hundred per cent certain it was, until to his request to find every single one Naruto Uzumaki in the whole of Japan, his secretary came with the list full of a whole one record.

His disappointment didn't end there, at lunch he met the so called scientist slash architect at Iruka's. As a waiter. An annoying, clumsy, _waiter_ that dared to try ignoring him. Too bad for the blond, to loose that round. But seriously, was the lack of progress in the research the result of the man's inability to concentrate on one thing only? Could he have abandoned it completely? Just what exactly was his investment being spent upon? The emotions were ugly, Sasuke knew perfectly well, but it didn't stop him from feeling them. Though, when Itachi shared the young man's story (without doubt previously heard from the cafe owner), a very different sort of emotion washed over him — the desire to protect and care for. Similar to that time at the party, but so much stronger. He wasn't giving that one up easily this time.

Which brought him to the last but not the least reason for why Sasuke was still at the office. Fate was insistent on these chance encounters, it seemed, but while certainly entertaining, they all ended in a disappointing disaster. Not wanting to bump into the scientist slash interior designer slash waiter unprepared again, he needed to get the blond out of his mind first, then regroup and come up with a plan on how to gradually make him his.

It proved to be more difficult than Sasuke initially thought as even with the whole madness that today turned into, Naruto was firmly on his mind and refused to get out. Every bloody little thing reminded him of the blond: the napkin from Rasengan Cafe that he still somehow had in his desk, the damn elevators that weren't even that slow today, and who in the hell added fish cakes to his salad? Every cool smooth surface was pure torture as it felt almost like the tan skin he got to touch by the pool. You would think that with blond hair, bright eyes, and vibrant personality, the guy would be warm like sunshine. But no—

His skin, despite the endearingly flushed cheeks, was cool to the touch just like fresh breeze, which made Sasuke want to dive in without reservations. The two oceans of blue looked at him with such power, and uncertainty at the same time, too, but he just couldn't control the sudden desire. Though frustrating, it was good that some kids interrupted the moment. He was caught off guard. It was too soon. It wasn't time.

Interrupting his thoughts, Sasuke's phone vibrated suddenly bringing up 'Devil' as a caller id and he frowned. What possibly could be his brother up to?

"You know it's after three in the morning, right?" he answered, finishing up the last of his whiskey. Hearing beats of music on the background and incoherent voices, he raised a curious brow and asked "are you in a bar, Itachi?"

"Just visiting my alma mater, little brother" He heard the silky voice on the other line. "Oh, and don't pretend that you're aren't at work"

"Hn"

"Good. I am calling, little brother, to tell you to go home."

"What are you up to?"

"My-my, wouldn't want to spoil the fun now, would we?" Sasuke could _hear_ the annoyingly tiny smile in Itachi's voice "But really, is it that hard to believe that I simply worry?"

"Yes" _Obviously_ , he added in his mind.

"You hurt me, dear brother. Go home. It is quarter after three, and with the apartment being about half hour away, you should make it just in time"

"In time for what, exactly?"

"For your power nap of course! We can't have you going twenty four hours without sleep, now, can we? Surely, you can continue your path to karoshi[1] in the morning"

Sasuke hang up at that and released a frustrated groan. Itachi was up to something and knowing him, it wasn't anything good. We are talking about the guy here that decided to go into politics for his own amusement. Which generally involved verbal (or not so verbal) torture of government officials, seducing wives and husbands of other politicians (not that they needed much seducing, though, a wink was generally enough), winning votes by blowing kisses at the crowds of voters, threatening crime syndicates. The one thing he didn't do was take bribes. No, not because of goodness of his heart, but simply because no one on this planet could possibly afford the number. He didn't give any too, as all it took for him was to enter the room and everyone would agree to whatever nonsense he was proposing. He did do some good though, for the city: whoever was not up to his very/extremely/unreal standards would flee at his sight. Itachi simply made it life threatening to operate not in the interest of the public (or his own). Scary person.

But he did have a point. It was time to get some sleep and this couch wasn't as comfortable as it looked. Besides, sleeping in the office had other complications, too. Sasuke made the mistake of falling asleep here once before and had to send a few employees to an emergency for blood loss in the morning. Workplace accident paperwork was a pain.

* * *

"Hn"

So that's what Itachi was up to, the brunet realized seeing a familiar blond softly snoring by the door to his apartment.

But how?

And why?

No, never mind. One issue at a time, he decided and nudged the body a little. Not getting a response, Uchiha bent down and shook Uzumaki by the shoulders. That got him a frown, a huff, and then silence again. "Hey, wake up" he shook harder. Another frown followed by a grunt and snore. A progress, but not enough. It seemed the guy refused to wake up. Well, too bad.

Sasuke straightened, unlocked the door and pushed it open watching with amusement how the man slowly slid to the floor, halfway to his suite, and then turned on one side bringing both arms up to form a pillow. _What an idiot_ , he thought fighting a smile.

He walked in, took off the shoes and coat, then grabbed the body by the shoulders and dragged him inside. Having picked up both of their bags from the hallway and locked the door, he stood there watching the blond spread out on the floor thinking of what to do next. Leave the blond just there was one of the options – he did look as if enjoying the carpeted floors... Drop him on the couch, but that would require more effort... Splashing the guy with cold water and kick him out also came to mind, but that would get the carpet wet, and having to explain this whole predicament now would be a hassle. He was too tired for that.

Interrupting his thoughts, the guy on the floor turned to the side again with a contented smile, and right there Sasuke's chest filled with warm fondness that urged him to the fourth option, which was his bed.

He rid the guest off the outdoor clothing and boots, grabbed him by both arms into a sitting position, then over his shoulder and went further inside the apartment. Hearing the huffs and snores behind his back was deeply amusing.

The apartment was nothing special – just a small studio with bare minimum of stuff: a couch, coffee table, couple of floor lamps, and a bed by the window. There was a nice kitchen though, with two stools by the breakfast bar.

This studio was only temporary, so he never bothered to decorate it. The apartment he actually owned was the building's penthouse. But according to Itachi, it needed some fixing and some serious interior design changes, which is why he was banished from there for the time being.

Having walked to the bed and carefully laid the guy on the soft surface, Sasuke sat beside and for a moment simply looked at him. Such relaxed face framed by short blond hair that formed a halo on the pillow. Dark eyelashes rested on slightly flushed skin, from alcohol for sure, the strong smell being the obvious indicator. Lips parted, letting out now barely audible little snores. They looked slightly chapped and Sasuke wetted his own on instinct.

Was everything alright? Did he need covers? Was he more comfortable this way, on his back, or —

The blond turned to the side again and the brunet chucked, not even bothering to hold it in. His guest was a side sleeper, then. No doubts.

 _Damn_ , Sasuke came to realize that the feeling he got around the blond was more than simple attraction. It had to be, as never in his life it was this strong. The pull was like gravity, and he got caught in a free fall. Even now, just sitting beside the dead asleep guy made him want to, more than anything in the world, just lie beside and _cuddle_. He never cuddled. But this feeling made him want to start right that instant. The brunet wiped both hands of his face and wondered just when exactly the hope got lost on him.

"kishh" he heard a mumble and Sasuke's eyes turned to saucers and he turned his head so quickly his neck creaked.

Was he hearing things?

It couldn't be—

Should he?

No, it wasn't right—

But maybe?

No-no. Taking advantage of a drunk sleeping person was against his nature. "Kissh me Kiba" he heard then and his brows curved in a frown. Who the fuck was Kiba? And why in the hell would he be kissing his blond? With a growl, Sasuke dove in to claim Naruto's lips, to show just whose bed he currently occupied but—

the blond's face suddenly relaxed in a slow smile and a quiet mumble "damn teme" stopped Sasuke an inch away.

 _Teme_.

Naruto used it before, in the elevator, the note, and the pool. The dobe was dreaming about him. Whoever the fuck Kiba was didn't matter. He would let the guy rest and talk in the morning.

* * *

Wrong. Everything felt wrong. Naruto didn't need to open his eyes to know how bright the room was, which meant there were no drapes on the windows or they were mercilessly left open by some unknown torturer. Air was too cold – so different from his always heated apartment and he snuggled further under the covers. The bed was comfortable but the catastrophic lack of pillows was unbearable. Why would people do that to themselves? Didn't they know how awesome it was to be surrounded by the huggable pieces of fluffiness?

Young scientist was sure he wasn't home. Where was he, then? Last night, Kiba left him with Gaara, who then drove him to the apartment building...that's right...but this wasn't his place. Whose was it?

The sounds... There were foreign sounds around... Muffled steps, gentle clutter and _sizzle_. Of their own accord, his nostrils flared registering the crispiness of bacon in the air and sweetness of—was it eggs? His stomach approvingly growled at the mental image of breakfast.. But still, there was one other smell that made everything feel so alarmingly wrong... It was... It was—

Naruto's eyes snapped open and body froze in alert,

—bergamot. The room reeked of bergamot. Of course, this had to be the bastard's lair. He remembered now passing out in the hallway after that damn elevator took him to the wrong floor. Uchiha must have found him there— no, he must have known that tired and drunk Naruto would end up there. Or, probably, even followed him from the bar all the way to the building, waited to see which floor he would get off, that damn stalker, then got him right at his weakest...Naruto was so gonna get the bastard's ass arrested! Also, that creepy ponytail guy—the brother—must have tipped him off. They were all in this together..

Oh no, he was in danger wasn't he? Who knows what these rich bastards were into? They probably kept people like pets in small apartments, or forced them to fight for life or death at their parties just for the fun of it , or...or...he would be shipped to China and sold for organs... Dammit...his organs were perfectly good for sale. They must cost a fortune. He needed to get out of here or call the police. No. Get out of here _and_ call the police.

Carefully, not moving his body at all so to not alert the bastard of his awakened state, Naruto looked around and began to formulate an escape plan. The room's layout resembled his own apartment but contrary to it all walls were white, not even a single picture frame marred them. The furniture, the bare minimum of it, was so simple it could have belonged to a hospital, if not for its black colour. Everything looked disgustingly clean, almost sterile. Uchiha couldn't possibly be living here, it was too creepy. Unless, this was indeed meant for human pets to live in, in captivity, for ever...

Okay, there was no time for these kinds of depressing thoughts... Firstly, he needed to find a way out of here. As the layout was similar to his own place, the exit was most likely to the right, down the corridor – not too far away, which was good. The bad thing – it was past the kitchen, currently occupied by the evil kidnapper. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the familiar mop of raven-black hair and tried to ignore the incredible aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Another growl escaped his tummy and he mentally swore. When was the last time he actually properly ate? They left the lab before lunch and food at the bar didn't really count, Uchiha must have known that somehow. This was all part of his plan to entrap Naruto in here forever.

Feeling the panic raise inside, the scientist continued planning out the escape. Under covers, he still wore all of his clothes, he checked: shirt was on, jeans, belt... Everything but socks.

Weird.

Ah, what wasn't weird about this whole thing?! He was imprisoned by an evil billionaire, for darn's sake!

More importantly, the phone was still in his backside pocket, which was good but a bit suspicious. Wouldn't the captor want to rid of the phone at least? Must have been an oversight. Under the covers Naruto carefully wiggled the device out of his jeans then slowly, very slowly, moved it alongside his body all the way up and prepared to call 911.

 _Oversight, my ass,_ he mentally swore again, seeing the out of power icon appear on the screen.

The scientist took a deep breath. Having no means to call for help sucked, but it wasn't the end of the world.

The next step would be...getting to the door.

He needed to be smart about it as slipping out unnoticed was not an option – the apartment was open concept and too small. So he needed to find an excuse to go to the washroom, which had to be in the same direction as the door. Uchiha would most likely insist on following him there, but Naruto was ready to just hit him in the nuts and make a run for it. All good, everything thought of, there goes nothing...

Fully prepared for battle, Naruto pushed up from the bed, propping himself up on one elbow, and froze as sharp pain pierced through his head "Fuck" he groaned and found himself falling back on the pillow, an arm flying up to his forehead. The hangover was something he didn't account for...

"Good, you're awake" through the pounding in his head Naruto heard Sasuke's voice from the kitchen. "There are painkillers and water on the bedside table"

 _Thoughtful prick knew this would happen_ , he thought but propped up on one elbow again, this time very carefully, and took the pills, then laid back and waited for the headache to go away. The escape plan was delayed, but only temporarily, he thought closing his eyes and praying once again for this all to be just a dream.

"Here, drink this as well" came the voice of his captor much closer this time, startling the blond. He pried one eye open and warily looked at the glass that he just emptied being replaced by another one. Bright light sent another wave of headache through his brain and Naruto groaned, but the other man somehow grasped the unasked question "It's orange juice – fluids and sugar will help the headache go away faster."

For a second there Naruto contemplated on whether or not to believe the bastard, that perhaps the juice was spiked with something else to further worsen his suffering, but then, he already took some unknown pills without a second thought, so whatever was in this particular glass didn't matter anymore. And, really, if there was even the slightest chance for it to help rid of headache, he should take it. Damn Kiba for letting him drink so much... No, wait. It wasn't Kiba's fault... it was teme's.

Groaning again, the blond took the glass and then a nice long sip from it, welcoming the sweet cool liquid. Another piercing pain through his head sent Naruto back to the pillow.

"That looks painful" he heard Sasuke taking the empty glass away "Why drink so much, just to suffer like that?"

 _To stop thinking about you, prick_. Naruto thought but voiced out only "It's your fault"

"Oh, how so?"

"Because you're a bastard", wasn't it obvious?

"I think you being an idiot provides a better explanation"

"Hey!" Naruto jumped on the bed to point a finger at the arrogant son of a bitch, but instead caused another fit of headache and fell back down miserably.

"See?"

Hateful asshole.

"Why did you abduct me?", tired from the pounding in his head, the scientist wanted to find a reason for this whole waking up in a strange apartment situation, but couldn't. So, he decided to bluntly ask his captor.

"What?" was a surprised response that didn't fool him in the slightest, and Naruto asked further. Not shouting or anything, because it would only worsen the headache, but just wanting to get a straight answer for once:

"Look, prick, I know that you've been funding my research, and must have known who I was from the start. So why pretending? Why stalking and bringing me here?"

After a slight delay, he heard the other man speak "I am not even going to justify it with an answer. You're free to leave whenever you want." There was another pause and the blond looked at the other man, finding him standing just few steps away from the bed blankly looking at the empty glass still in his hands. "I saw you passed out outside my apartment and took you in. Your things are by the door and...Hn" the brunet cleared his throat and continued, still not looking at him "You can leave, but there is also breakfast, if you want"

That unsure tone didn't quite fit the image that Naruto had in his head of the mighty and arrogant Sasuke Uchiha, but really, how well did he know the guy? It's been, what, 48 hours since their first real encounter. Maybe Iruka was indeed right and he should first get to know the guy before forming any opinions about him. But he would be damned if he didn't take a way out when it was right in front of him... just to be on the safe side.

Feeling the headache ease slightly and ready to pick up his stuff and leave, Naruto sat up on the bed and prepared to tell Uchiha that it's been nice and they should do it some other time. Instead, just when his mouth was about to voice out the first words of that sentence, a loud grumble escaped his stomach, echoing through the small apartment. Blood rushed to his cheeks as the embarrassing noise repeated and he instinctively covered his abdomen.

"Don't laugh!" he shouted at the snicker from the other man.

"Breakfast it is, then"

* * *

Food tasted so good that Uzumaki could barely stop himself from shoving it all in his mouth at once. Just like the aroma suggested before, eggs were sweet and fluffy with just the right amount of crispy bacon, and coffee—damn incredible. Though his stomach made the decision for him, he didn't regret staying. So far, Uchiha's been nothing but a good host: made breakfast, gave a change of clothes, a toothbrush, and a charger for his phone. He sent him to shower, because _there was no way a smelly idiot was going anywhere near his perfect kitchen_. Well, he was still a bastard, just in a more civil way, kind of.

They were eating in comfortable silence, not wanting to interrupt the temporary peace, with only sounds in the room coming from gentle clutter of their plates and some street noise from outside. From the corner of his eye, Naruto peaked at Sasuke from time to time noticing how careful and precise the other man's movements were, from holding the chopsticks so perfectly to placing his mug on the same spot every time. He also couldn't help but notice how down to earth the guy looked in casual clothes, how nicely a simple navy shirt contrasted with pale skin, how its short sleeves seemed kind of tight around those biceps, how—

"You're staring again" Sasuke pointed out hiding a smirk behind a small cherry tomato.

Naruto cursed, but didn't comment further, instead just grabbed another bite of eggs and looking away. What was the point? The bastard knew damn well how good he looked.

"I notice it too, you know" the brunet said after a slight pause, "How my shirt on you looks—different, how tan your skin is, how your nape is still flushed from shower, how—"

"Gah! Stop with embarrassing stuff!" the blond dropped his chopsticks and covered the back of his neck immediately, drawing a laugh out from the other man, to which he responded with a shove. But it was still somewhat comfortable to learn that he wasn't alone in this—whatever that was.

"Why do you think that is?" Naruto asked, hoping that maybe Sasuke had the answer.

"What is?"

"That I—that you—we...urgh, you know, bastard!"

"I honestly don't know why" Sasuke admitted "But I also felt it last year, when I first saw you at that Christmas party"

"Oh right," he remembered how Kiba was laughing at that last night, "I was told that we saw each other then! Sorry, I don't remember anything because I slept through the whole thing, but is it true that I ruined your suit?"

"Yep" Sasuke smiled at the memory, then looked at the blond and added earnestly "Was worth it" to which, Naruto mumbled, face buried in his mug:

"I said stop with embarrassing stuff. Better tell me this—" hating the way the tips of his ears burned, he made a decision to change the subject and asked about the weirdest thing that still bothered him the most "—what's up with this apartment?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's empty and creepy"

"It's just a place to sleep"

"You mean, it's yours?!" Naruto couldn't help but gape at Sasuke, who just rolled eyes.

"Yes, moron. It is temporary, but it's still mine. My brother insisted I renovate the penthouse, which wasn't that bad to begin with, but when something gets into his head, there is no way around it. He then found me this one for the time being."

"This makes more sense" the blond smiled with relief. He then noticed that food was already gone, and coffee mugs were emptied. It was probably a good time to leave and let the man be – he already inconvenienced him long enough. But something pulled at him to ask "Will you show it to me?"

* * *

The elevator wasn't at all slow today, young scientist noted on the way up to the penthouse. It was clean, too – mirrors sparking and all. Perhaps the cleaners were more thorough than usual today. And was it a new carpet? Or has it always been that colour? Oh, and these bar handles were super shiny, perhaps polished—

"You're ok?" the question snapped Naruto out of the pathetic attempt to keep himself distracted from the fact that he was inside an elevator with Sasuke again.

"Yeah. Sure" He answered rather too quickly, scratching at the back of his neck. It's not like it was an issue or anything, just reminded him of what happened and what _didn't_ happen the last time they were here. More importantly, was it a good idea to go into a stranger's penthouse? Though, it wasn't really like _that_. It was just out of professional responsibility, right? As an interior designer, it was his duty to society to give some pointers to someone who's renovating their place of residence. He did that all the time! And it's not like they were total strangers... he did sleep at the guy's place tonight—

/Bing!/

The blond breathed out in relief at the sound and promptly left the metal box, turning right at the exit. Coming face-to-face with a wall, he almost leaped to the ceiling as a hand wrapped around his abdomen to guide him in the opposite direction.

"It's this way" Sasuke pointed at the only door on the floor and he just blushed in response. It was obvious to both how nervous he was for no reason, but once the door was opened, all thoughts were gone.

Inside, Naruto was greeted by such a beautiful view that he forgot to breathe. Without an invitation, he discarded boots by the door, walked through a short hallway towards grand floor-to-ceiling windows that were so tall they almost blended with the sky. It began snowing again with large snow flurries passing by so slowly, so close that he almost felt like a part of a cloud that floated over the city below. He could stay there forever, but it wasn't his home and he was there for a reason, as such, the designer in him withdrew from the window, turned around and assessed the space.

"Holy shit"

And what a space that was...

To the side of the entrance was a high-end kitchen decked out in midnight blue glossy cabinetry with a long absolute black granite island, above which was a rainfall of crystal drops and lights hanging from the ceiling. A modestly sized but cozy dining area was set up by the windows with a free-standing gas fireplace near it. The dining table only had seating room for four. Perhaps, it wasn't meant for entertaining large crowds but instead for small family gatherings. Behind the fireplace was some sort of structure from blown glass and metal that separated what looked like a home office from the rest of the room. Apartment didn't end there, it seemed to curve around to the other side of the building where surely the bedroom or several were located.

Where he stood was a spacious great room with armchairs and fancy couches arranged in a semicircle facing the windows. Another intricate chandelier hanged above him, and to the side was a carefully arranged space for reading with two armchairs, a table in between, floor lamps, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a fully stacked whiskey bar.

Everything was so well done that Uzumaki immediately felt inspired and somewhat proud of the work done by a fellow interior designer. At the same time, somewhere deep inside his chest he noted a surprising pang of disappointment, not sure though what it was related to.

Near him, Uchiha was talking on the phone with someone.

"You didn't tell me that they finished, why?" He didn't sound too pleased. Was he not happy with the result? That couldn't possibly be it. "I slept on the couch, Itachi. The _couch_!" Ah, that explained it. Naruto couldn't help but laugh, remembering the tiny couch from the other apartment. Though it was rather curious why Uchiha let him have the bed, instead of just throwing him on that same couch.

"Sorry, didn't expect them to finish so quickly," the brunet turned his phone off and walked closer to his guest "just on Friday this place was a mess. So, what do you think?"

"What do _I_ think?!"

"Yes, I am curious to know your professional opinion"

"It's awesome, you rich prick" Naruto admitted, looking around the place again.

"How elaborate, dobe"

"Teme!" He laughed and jokingly shoved Sasuke away but with a bit more force than intended and, seeing the guy loose balance, grabbed onto his arm. It was too late though and the man was much heavier than expected, so they both ended up falling on one of the armchairs with Naruto landing on top.

"How bold of you" low baritone vibrated in his ear. Palms and face pressed into the broad chest, he didn't need to look up to know the guy was smirking again. Bastard.

"Oh, shut up!" That came out quite muffled drawing a laugh out of Sasuke. Naruto pushed up a bit and found himself nose to nose with him. Just like that time in the elevator, the fragrance of salted bergamot almost caused his head to spin. And just like the other time by the pool, he began to loose himself in the dark eyes. It felt right, again, to be there, to be that close, to not care about other things, to _know_ that everything would work out. But it was just an illusion, it had to be. The world was more complicated than that, and their worlds were too different. Having realized that, the blond pushed himself further away, then shifted his weight enough to gain balance back and stood up. "I should probably go"

"Why" How could he ask that? Didn't he understand it himself?

"I invited myself here to give you some professional advice," the blond explained, nervously scratching the back of his neck, damn habit "which is obviously not needed anymore. And I took enough of your time already, I'm sure you're a busy guy. Anyways, thank you for not leaving me in the hallway. Oh, and sorry about the couch, by the way. Really, you should've just thrown me there instead. So—"

"Running away again" Sasuke breathed out slowly, stood up and faced Naruto, who was pinned to his spot by the sudden intensity in the dark eyes "Did you sleep well?"

Thrown aback by a surprising question, the blond just nodded.

"Was breakfast to your liking?"

Another nod.

"Headache?"

"No"

"Otherwise feel well?"

"Yes. Where are you going with this?"

"Good. Now that you're awake, in sound judgement, there are no elevators, no interruptions—" as if on cue his cellphone, still laying on the armchair, rang and both men looked at the direction of the sound. Cursing, the brunet picked it up, hissed _'not now, aniki_ ', hanged up, and switched the device off. "Now that there are no interruptions," he continued "You will let me kiss you."

"What?!" Was he out of his mind?

"Admit that you want it, too"

"Like hell I do!" Hell yeah he did, but it wasn't the point.

Sasuke held an arm to the crinkle between his eyebrows and let out another long breath. "I'm not going to force you, I just want you to admit that there is something between us. Something too important to just brush off and forget"

Of course Naruto felt it too, it was why the brunet never left his head ever since their first meeting, or the second, whatever. But—

"We don't know each other! You don't make sense!"

"I know I don't!" Uchiha snapped, but then put a hand over his face and took a few steps away. After a pause, he looked back at Uzumaki with such fondness in his eyes, that the scientist's heart seized "It's scary to feel this— _attraction_. To a stranger. But I am not running away."

Naruto stood there, looking at that perfect stranger that he only met so long ago leaving himself bare right in front of him and felt his stomach drop at the sight – a familiar feeling by now. Even wearing casual joggers and a simple navy t-shirt, Sasuke looked just as gorgeous as the first time: dark hair framing the face had the same blue highlights as before that made them look like a raven's wings; elegant jawline and perfectly even nose; and, of course, the eyes – deep like the midnight sky. But there was more to the man than his looks: passion and kindness, strong character and damn good cooking skills, and many other traits to be discovered yet. Perhaps it was okay to stop running, but not until the important questions were out of the way.

"Are you married?" The blond inquired, folding hands at his chest and throwing the chin up in challenge.

"Are you an idiot?"

"Just answer the damn question, teme"

"I'm not"

"Kids?"

"No"

"Ever cheated?"

"Never"

"Killed anyone?"

"Not yet, but soon, if you don't stop with stupid questions" Sasuke growled under his breath but then just blinked at what was said next.

"Ok, then" the whirlwind of emotions in his stomach threatened to escape, but Naruto still continued "I will let you kiss me"

In a heartbeat the brunet was in front of him and Naruto's eyes fluttered shut as his nerves turned into a bundle. This kind of powerful attraction to another person was something alien, like from another Universe. Without any contact yet he could feel the comfortable heat radiating from Sasuke—similar to rays of the Sun—surrounding him, moving through him, not leaving anything untouched. What would it feel like when they actually unite? When nothing followed, he looked up just to see the man finally eliminate the distance and softly press closed mouth to his. It caught him by surprise, how else would you explain the skipping breath and sudden tightness in his chest? But through all that it felt—

 _So warm,_ he thought relaxing into the simple kiss.

The touch was soft like gentle gust of wind, and just as fleeting. He opened eyes again, surprised, was it the end of it? But then he saw a smile on Sasuke's face and everything inside him stilled. Right there, right that second everything made sense: two celestial bodies, having met just once forever change their orbits and in the future, their meeting frequency would be increased with every iteration until they either both collide or form a strong and stable dual system. It was the case with them as well.

Drawn towards Sasuke's honest smile, Naruto rose on his toes to meet the man half way into another kiss. A bit more urgency was there, desire to confirm that all of this is real. Out of their own accord his hands slid around the firm body for support and a bit more of that addictive warmth – the move received approving gentle bite to his bottom lip that had his toes curl against will. He gasped surprised as Sasuke's palms cupped both his cheeks and just before the mind flew out of the window, he welcomed the strong muscle inside. Intense taste of coffee, something salty, mixed with aroma of that same bergamot, drove him out of this world and he responded with an equal force. He was so lost, and yet, at _home_. How could it feel so good? It was—

"Insane" he said, trying to catch a breath

"What is?" Sasuke rested his forehead on Naruto's, breathing just as heavily

"How good it feels" both laughed at that before diving into another searing kiss.

Warm fingers found a way into blond hair, massaging spots Naruto never knew he had, which sent a wave of pleasure down his spine. Unable to suppress a moan he blushed from head to toe, it seemed. Starving for air, he tore away to take a breath just to have it stolen by a hot mouth on his neck. _Heavens_. Uchiha's hands slid down his back to firmly hold him just as his own moved up into the silky raven locks. Another moan, a sigh, not clear whose, and other sounds filled space inside the great room, but Naruto was not in state to hear, through all the ringing in the ears. He felt moist lips and heated breath trail up his neck then cheekbone, that's never been so sensitive before, and turned his head to eagerly meet them again. This softness, taste, this warmth were all immensely addictive and Uzumaki pressed closer until nothing could come between them, until—

Sasuke, releasing a frustrated groan, suddenly broke the kiss and buried his face in the tan neck again. "You need to leave" he said through teeth.

"Say what?" Naruto pulled back and firmly looked into black eyes, did he just hear that right? To which, brunet dove in to press the swollen mouth to his again then took him in the full embrace, hips pressing into his and—

_Oh_

—the joggers didn't do a thing to hide the obvious arousal in between them. Well, technically, two. The scientist realized, letting another throaty groan escape.

Sasuke released his grip on him and took few steps away "We need to stop" seeing the look of disagreement, continued "I never even asked you on a proper date"

"Oh, _please_ " the blond responded to the nonsense "Stopping after just begging me to kiss you?"

"I didn't beg" that didn't sound convincing "I won't hold back" now this definitely did.

"What makes you think I would?" The scientist grinned and in another heartbeat those perfect lips were over his again.

To know that both wanted the same was freeing. Without reservations, the scientist explored the muscles of strong arms then drowned in softness of dark locks again. He arched the back on instinct when hot palms found their way under his t-shirt to guide him closer to the other man's hips. The heat and friction sent a lightning bolt through all his senses and Naruto fisted his hands in pleasure. It felt divine.

Once more, Uchiha took a step away, this time holding the tan hand in his. Another step had Uzumaki following the suit. They walked past dining table, the fireplace, and then home office – the bedroom was located just where he thought it would. A second glass and metal structure caught his attention, and then the view from yet another set of floor-to-ceiling windows. The snow was falling heavier outside and everything looked dark despite being the middle of the day—

Blue eyes widened as he was drawn into another burning kiss and pushed to a wall out of the blue, pale hands roaming all over. Black eyes bore into his and he forgot to breathe. _Sightseeing later_ , they seemed to say and he couldn't agree more.

Without any thought the scientist tugged at the navy t-shirt, brushing the fingertips along the abdomen he was hungry for since laying eyes on it by the pool. In just a moment the material was gone and lost somewhere on the floor and he, enchanted, planted a couple little kisses on the pearl-white skin. He wanted to move lower, but was interrupted by his own t-shirt being taken off and thrown away. Chill air sent waves of goosebumps but only for a fleeting moment before Naruto was lost in boiling hot embrace and deep invasion.

"You look like a cold bastard" he said through ragged breaths working on getting joggers off "but you're hot as hell", then rolled his eyes at the contented _Hn_ "Not what I meant! Like furnace!"

The businessman, now wearing only a piece of underwear, continued assault on tan neck, then whispered "Admit it" sending ripples of shivers all the way down to his stomach.

The blond mentally cursed and said "My hands are on your ass, aren't they?" that got a laugh out of the other man.

Last pieces of their clothing totally discarded, Naruto found himself among the countless pillows on the bed. If there was any hesitation ever in the past about things maybe not working out between them, it dissipated. A man with love for pillows matching his was totally a keeper.

Sasuke hovered over him like that time by the pool, with both thumbs brushing over at the corners of blue eyes and said "I was surprised as well. Your tan, blond hair scream warmth and sunshine, but your skin is smooth and cold. Like morning breeze. Your eyes—" Naruto swallowed hard at that "are deep and wild like open oceans. I want to drown in them"

"I'm not running away" he whispered and gave himself completely to the kiss that followed. Strong muscle sliding in and his responding back—he was so lost in this unearthly feeling.

Some pillows were sent flying to the floor when Sasuke grabbed a tube of lube and condoms from the bottom drawer. It was enthralling to see the man so effortlessly put one on him and under the spell, the blond returned the gesture. Next second Naruto was flipped over and felt a digit glide through his tight ring of muscles. The movements after left him breathless and he could only lay there and wait until one digit turned to two, then three and then withdrew completely. Until—

He turned around and met the man half way already hungry for those perfect lips, shifting the weight to lay onto his back again. He clutched at broad shoulders and beneath tan fingertips the muscles flexed as strong arms lifted his hips and brought them closer to the burning heat. The blond was _melting_.

Breaking the kiss Sasuke looked down at him and Naruto was lost forever in the black gaze, so powerful, so dark, with galaxies of stars inside. Another breath and the awaited hot arousal slid in, letting his moan escape into the heated mouth that landed back on his.

The room was filled with muffled noises, groans, and breathless gasps. Tan legs as if of mind their own wrapped around pale hips, increasing friction in between two men, whose hearts were beating in a perfect unison. They were exactly where they were meant to be.

* * *

"I think my brother hacked the elevators." Sasuke voiced out his suspicion placing a glass of water on a nightstand, and then corrected "Well, had someone else hack them for him."

"You're kidding" Naruto couldn't help but be amused. Then grabbed the water and gobbled it down "To set us up?"

The brunet nodded.

That was ridiculous. "No way."

"Well, if you think about that—your elevator theory—it does check out."

"That's true, but not exactly. My colleague, Kiba, has exactly the same issue. And even got stuck at one on Friday. That couldn't, possibly be your brother's fault too, could it?"

So, was it all damn elevators' fault or was it certain someone's?

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So...since the very beginning, I wrote Sasuke in a way that would make him that sexy enigmatic persona that Naruto just couldn't help to fall in lust with, and fast. Like falling down in that elevator (dream in ch5..) and not caring. To achieve that, I had to limit his time on screen, but by doing so I made him more of a bastard than initially intended...urgh..not at all worthy of my hardworking cutie-pie Naruto. I tried to use this chapter to show his good sides! That he is just as hardworking and cares for the same things, though in a different way. Do you think it worked?
> 
> Also the story is done, but I might write a short ficlet to tie some still remaining loose ends :) Though, not sure when exactly, so I'll mark it all Complete.


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